it tr 



WRITTEN 
BY 

CLARA 
DILLINGHAM 
PIERS ON 



DESIGNS 

BY 

FREDERICK 

CHARLE5 

GORDON 




Qm-Jajk^SJ— 

Book Sr/2-- 

CoEyrightE 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Among the Meadow People 



BY 

CLARA DILLINGHAM PIERSON 



Illustrated by F. C. GORDON 



NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION 




NEW YORK 
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 

31 West Twenty-third Street 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

APR 20 1903 

Copyright Entry 

CLASS ^t*XXc No. 

COPY B. 



PL IT- 



COPYRIGHT 
E. P. DUTTON & CO. 



COPYRIGHT 
CLARA DILLINGHAM PIERSON 



Zbc lftnicfcerbocfeer pvcss, mew Uorfc 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

INTRODUCTION ...... 5 

THE BUTTERFLY THAT WENT CALLING . . 7 

THE ROBINS BUILD A NEST 14 

THE SELFISH TENT-CATERPILLAR ... 22 

THE LAZY SNAIL • 3 1 

AN ANT THAT WORE WINGS .... 37 
THE CHEERFUL HARVESTMEN . . . 42 
THE LITTLE SPIDER'S FIRST WEB 50 
THE BEETLE WHO DID NOT LIKE CATERPIL- 
LARS ... v ... 56 
THE YOUNG ROBIN WHO WAS AFRAID TO FLY. 6l 
THE CRICKETS' SCHOOL. . . . 7 1 
THE CONTENTED EARTHWORMS ... 76 
THE MEASURING WORM'S JOKE . . . 8l 

A PUZZLED CICADA 87 

THE TREE FROG'S STORY .... 93 

THE DAY WHEN THE GRASS WAS CUT . . IOI 
THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE MEASURING WORM 

RUN A RACE 109 

MR. GREEN FROG AND HIS VISITORS . II4 

THE DIGNIFIED WALKING-STICKS . . . 120 

3 



Contents. 



PAGE 

THE DAY OF THE GREAT STORM . . 1 28 

THE STORY OF LILY-PAD ISLAND . . . 134 
THE GRASSHOPPER WHO WOULD n't BE 

SCARED ....... 142 

THE EARTHWORM HALF-BROTHERS . 15I 

A GOSSIPING FLY 156 

THE FROG-HOPPERS GO OUT INTO THE WORLD. l6l 
THE MOSQUITO TRIES TO TEACH HIS NEIGH- 
BORS 171 

THE FROG WHO THOUGHT HERSELF SICK . 1 77 

THE KATYDID'S QUARREL .... 183 

THE LAST PARTY OF THE SEASON . . . 1 88 



INTRODUCTION. 



Many of these stories of field life were 
written for the little ones of my kinder- 
garten, and they gave so much pleasure, 
and aroused such a new interest in "the 
meadow people," that it has seemed wise 
to collect and add to the original number 
and send them out to a larger circle of 
boys and girls. 

All mothers and teachers hear the cry 
for " just one more," and find that there 
are times when the bewitching tales of 
animals, fairies, and " really truly" children 
are all exhausted, and tired imagination 
will not supply another. In selecting the 
tiny creatures of field and garden for the 
characters in this book, I have remem- 
bered with pleasure the way in which my 

5 



6 Introduction. 

loyal pupils befriended stray crickets and 
grasshoppers, their intense appreciation of 
the new realm of fancy and observation, 
and the eagerness and attention with which 
they sought Mother Nature, the most won- 
derful and tireless of all story-tellers. 

Clara Dillingham Pierson. 

Stanton, Michigan, 
April 8th, 1897. 



V 



The BUTTXRTLV That 
WENT CALLING, 



As the warm August days 
came, Mr. Yellow Butterfly 
wriggled and pushed in his 
snug little green chrysalis and 
wished he could get out to see 
the world. He remembered 
the days when he was a hairy 
little Caterpillar, crawling 
slowly over grass and leaves, 
and he remembered how beau- 
tiful the sky and all the flowers 
were. Then he thought of 
the new wings which had been 
growing from his back, and he 

7 



8 Among the Meadow People. 

tried to move them, just to see how it 
would feel. He had only six legs since 
his wings grew, and he missed all the 
sticky feet which he had to give up when 
he began to change into a Butterfly. 

The more he thought about it the more 
he squirmed, until suddenly he heard a 
faint little sound, too faint for larger 
people to hear, and found a tiny slit in 
the wall of his chrysalis. It was such a 
dainty green chrysalis with white wrinkles, 
that it seemed almost a pity to have it 
break. Still it had held him for eight 
days already and that was as long as any 
of his family ever hung in the chrysalis, 
so it was quite time for it to be torn open 
and left empty. Mr. Yellow Butterfly 
belonged to the second brood that had 
hatched that year and he wanted to be 
out while the days were still fine and hot. 
Now he crawled out of the newly-opened 
doorway to take his first flight. 

Poor Mr. Butterfly ! He found his wings 



The Butterfly that Went Calling. 9 

so wet and crinkled that they would n't 
work at all, so he had to sit quietly in the 
sunshine all day drying them. And just 
as they got big, and smooth, and dry, it 
grew dark, and Mr. Butterfly had to crawl 
under a leaf to sleep. 

The next morning, bright and early, he 
flew away to visit the flowers. First he 
stopped to see the Daisies by the road- 
side. They were all dancing in the wind, 
and their bright faces looked as cheerful 
as anyone could wish. They were glad 
to see Mr. Butterfly, and wished him to 
stay all day with them. He said: "You 
are very kind, but I really could n't think 
of doing it. You must excuse my saying 
it, but I am surprised to think you will 
grow here. It is very dusty and dry, and 
then there is no shade. I am sure I could 
have chosen a better place." 

The Daisies smiled and nodded to each 
other, saying, " This is the kind of place 
we were made for, that 's all." 



io Among the Meadow People. 

Mr. Butterfly shook his head very doubt- 
fully, and then bade them a polite " Good- 
morning," and flew away to call on the 
Cardinals. 

The Cardinals are a very stately family, 
as everybody knows. They hold their 
heads very high, and never make deep 
bows, even to the wind, but for all that 
they are a very pleasant family to meet. 
They gave Mr. Butterfly a dainty lunch 
of honey, and seemed much pleased when 
he told them how beautiful the river 
looked in the sunlight. 

" It is a delightful place to grow," said 
they. 

" Ye-es," said Mr. Butterfly, " it is very 
pretty, still I do not think it can be health- 
ful. I really cannot understand why you 
flowers choose such strange homes. Now, 
there are the Daisies, where I just called. 
They are in a dusty, dry place, where there 
is no shade at all. I spoke to them about 
it, and they acted quite uppish." 



The Butterfly that Went Calling. 1 1 

" But the Daisies always do choose such 
places," said the Cardinals. 

" And your family," said Mr. Butterfly, 
" have lived so long in wet places that it 
is a wonder you are alive. Your color is 
good, but to stand with one's roots in 
water all the time ! It is shocking." 

" Cardinals and Butterflies live differ- 
ently," said the flowers. " Good-morn- 
ing." 

Mr. Butterfly left the river and flew 
over to the woods. He was very much 
out of patience. He was so angry that 
his feelers quivered, and now you know 
how angry he must have been. He knew 
that the Violets were a very agreeable 
family, who never put on airs, so he went 
at once to them. 

He had barely said " Good-morning" 
to them when he began to explain what 
had displeased him. 

" To think," he said, " what notions 
some flowers have ! Now, you have a 



12 Among the Meadow People. 

pleasant home here in the edge of the 
woods. I have been telling the Daisies 
and the Cardinals that they should grow 
in such a place, but they would n't 
listen to me. The Daisies were quite 
uppish about it, and the Cardinals were 
very stiff." 

" My dear friend," answered a Violet, 
u they could never live if they moved up 
into our neighborhood. Every flower has 
his own place in this world, and is happiest 
in that place. Everything has its own 
place and its own work, and every flower 
that is wise will stay in the place for which 
it was intended. You were exceedingly 
kind to want to help the flowers, but sup- 
pose they had been telling you what to 
do. Suppose the Cardinals had told you 
that flying around was not good for your 
health, and that to be truly well you 
ought to grow planted with your legs in 
the mud and water." 

"Oh!" said Mr. Butterfly, "Oh! I 



The Butterfly that Went Calling. 13 

never thought of that. Perhaps Butter- 
flies don't know everything." 

" No," said the Violet, " they don't know 
everything, and you have n't been out of 
your chrysalis very long. But those who 
are ready to learn can always find some- 
one to tell them. Won't you eat some 
honey ?" 

And Mr. Butterfly sipped honey and 
was happy. 



THE ROBINS BUILD A NEST. 

When Mr. and Mrs. Robin built in the 
spring, they were not quite agreed as to 
where the nest should be. Mr. Robin 
was a very decided bird, and had made 
up his mind that the lowest crotch of a 
maple tree would be the best place. He 
even went so far as to take three billfuls 
of mud there, and stick in two blades of 
dry grass. Mrs. Robin wanted it on the 
end of the second rail from the top of 
the split-rail fence. She said it was high 
enough from the ground to be safe and 
dry, and not so high that a little bird 
falling out of it would hurt himself very 
much. Then, too, the top rail was broad 
at the end and would keep the rain off 
so well. 

14 



The Robins Build a Nest. 15 

" And the nest will be just the color 
of the rails," said she, " so that even a 
Red Squirrel could hardly see it." She 
disliked Red Squirrels, and she had 
reason to, for she had been married be- 
fore, and if it had not been for a Red 
Squirrel, she might already have had 
children as large as she was. 

" I say that the tree is the place for it," 
said Mr. Robin, " and I wear the bright- 
est breast feathers." He said this because 
in bird families the one who wears the 
brightest breast feathers thinks he has 
the right to decide things. 

Mrs. Robin was wise enough not to 
answer back when he spoke in this way. 
She only shook her feathers, took ten 
quick running steps, tilted her body for- 
ward, looked hard at the ground, and 
pulled out something for supper. After 
that she fluttered around the maple tree 
crotch as though she had never thought 
of any other place. Mr. Robin wished 



1 6 Among the Meadow People. 

he had not been quite so decided, or 
reminded her of his breast feathers. 
" After all," thought he, " I don't know 
but the fence-rail would have done." He 
thought this, but he did n't say it. It is 
not always easy for a Robin to give up 
and let one with dull breast feathers know 
that he thinks himself wrong. 

That night they perched in the maple- 
tree and slept with their heads under 
their wings. Long before the sun was 
in sight, when the first beams were just 
touching the tops of the forest trees, they 
awakened, bright-eyed and rested, preened 
their feathers, sang their morning song, 
" Cheerily, cheerily, cheer-up," and flew 
off to find food. After breakfast they 
began to work on the nest. Mrs. Robin 
stopped often to look and peck at the 
bark. " It will take a great deal of mud," 
said she, " to fill in that deep crotch until 
we reach a place wide enough for the 
nest." 



The Robins Build a Nest. 17 

At another time she said : " My dear, 
I am afraid that the dry grass you are 
bringing is too light-colored. It shows 
very plainly against the maple bark. 
Can't you find some that is darker ? " 

Mr. Robin hunted and hunted, but 
could find nothing which was darker. As 
he flew past the fence, he noticed that it 
was almost the color of the grass in his 
bill. 

After a while, soft gray clouds began to 
cover the sky. " I wonder," said Mrs. 
Robin, " if it will rain before we get this 
done. The mud is soft enough now to 
work well, and this place is so open that 
the rain might easily wash away all that 
we have done." 

It did rain, however, and very soon. 
The great drops came down so hard that 
one could only think of pebbles falling. 
Mr. and Mrs. Robin oiled their feathers 
as quickly as they could, taking the oil 
from their back pockets and putting it 



18 Among the Meadow People. 

onto their feathers with their bills. This 
made the finest kind of waterproof and 
was not at all heavy to wear. When the 
rain was over they shook themselves and 
looked at their work. 

" I believe," said Mrs. Robin to her 
husband, " that you are right in saying 
that we might better give up this place 
and begin over again somewhere else." 

Now Mr. Robin could not remember 
having said that he thought anything of 
the sort, and he looked very sharply at 
his wife, and cocked his black head on 
one side until all the black and white 
streaks on his throat showed. She did 
not seem to know that he was watching 
her as she hopped around the partly built 
nest, poking it here and pushing it there, 
and trying her hardest to make it look 
right. He thought she would say some- 
thing, but she did n't. Then he knew he 
must speak first. He flirted his tail and 
tipped his head and drew some of his 



The Robins Build a Nest. 19 

brown wing-feathers through his bill. 
Then he held himself very straight and 
tall, and said, " Well, if you do agree with 
me, I think you might much better stop 
working here and begin in another place." 

" It seems almost too bad," said she. 
" Of course there are other places, 
but- ■ " 

By this time Mr. Robin knew exactly 
what to do. " Plenty of them," said he. 
" Now don't fuss any longer with this. 
That place on the rail fence is an excellent 
one. I wonder that no other birds have 
taken it." As he spoke he flew ahead to 
the very spot which Mrs. Robin had first 
chosen. 

She was a very wise bird, and knew far 
too much to say, " I told you so." Say- 
ing that, you know, always makes things 
go wrong. She looked at the rail fence, 
ran along the top of it, toeing in prettily 
as she ran, looked around in a surprised 
way, and said, " Oh, that place ? " 



20 Among the Meadow People. 

" Yes, Mrs. Robin," said her husband, 
" that place. Do you see anything wrong 
about it ? " 

" No-o," she said. " I think I could 
make it do." 

Before long another nest was half built, 
and Mrs. Robin was working away in the 
happiest manner possible, stopping every 
little while to sing her afternoon song : 
" Do you think what you do ? Do you 
think what you do? Do you thi-ink?" 

Mr. Robin was also at work, and such 
billfuls of mud, such fine little twigs, and 
such big wisps of dry grass as went into 
that home ! Once Mr. Robin was gone a 
long time, and when he came back he had 
a beautiful piece of white cotton string 
dangling from his beak. That they put 
on the outside. " Not that we care to 
show off," said they, " but somehow that 
seemed to be the best place to put it." 

Mr. Robin was very proud of his nest 
and of his wife. He never went far away 



The Robins Build a Nest. 21 

if he could help it. Once she heard him 
tell Mr. Goldfinch that, " Mrs. Robin was 
very sweet about building where he chose, 
and that even after he insisted on chang- 
ing places from the tree to the fence she 
was perfectly good-natured." 

"Yes," said Mrs. Robin to Mrs. Gold- 
finch, " I was perfectly good-natured." 
Then she gave a happy, chirpy little laugh, 
and Mrs. Goldfinch laughed, too. They 
were perfectly contented birds, even if they 
did n't wear the brightest breast feathers 
or insist on having their own way. And 
Mrs. Robin had been married before. 



THE SELFISH TENT-CATER- 
PILLAR. 

One could hardly call the Tent-Cater- 
pillars meadow people, for they did not 
often leave their trees to crawl upon the 
ground. Yet the Apple-Tree Tent-Cater- 
pillars would not allow anybody to call 
them forest people. " We live on apple 
and wild cherry trees," they said, "and 
you will almost always find us in the 
orchards or on the roadside trees. There 
are Forest Tent-Caterpillars, but please 
don't get us mixed with them. We be- 
long to another branch of the family, the 
Apple-Tree branch." 

The Tree Frog said that he remembered 
perfectly well when the eggs were laid on 
the wild cherry tree on the edge of the 



The Selfish Tent-Caterpillar. 23 

meadow. " It was early last summer," 
he said, " and the Moth who laid them was 
a very agreeable reddish-brown person, 
about as large as a common Yellow But- 
terfly. I remember that she had two light 
yellow lines on each forewing. Another 
Moth came with her, but did not stay. 
He was smaller than she, and had the 
same markings. After he had gone, she 
asked me if we were ever visited by the 
Yellow-Billed Cuckoos." 

" Why did she ask that?" said the 
Garter Snake. 

" Don't you know ? " exclaimed the 
Tree Frog. And then he whispered 
something to the Garter Snake. 

The Garter Snake wriggled with sur- 
prise and cried, " Really ? " 

All through the fall and winter the 
many, many eggs which the reddish- 
brown Moth had laid were kept snug and 
warm on the twig where she had put them. 
They were placed in rows around the 



24 Among the Meadow People. 

twig, and then well covered to hold them 
together and keep them warm. The 
winter winds had blown the twig to and 
fro, the cold rain had frozen over them, 
the soft snowflakes had drifted down from 
the clouds and covered them, only to melt 
and trickle away again in shining drops. 
One morning the whole wild cherry tree 
was covered with beautiful long, glistening 
crystals of hoar-frost ; and still the ring 
of eggs stayed in its place around the 
twig, and the life in them slept until 
spring sunbeams should shine down and 
quicken it. 

But when the spring sunbeams did 
come ! Even before the leaf-buds were 
open, tiny Larvae, or Caterpillar babies, 
came crawling from the ring of eggs and 
began feeding upon the buds. They 
took very, very small bites, and that 
looked as though they were polite chil- 
dren. Still, you know, their mouths were 
so small that they could not take big ones, 



The Selfish Tent-Caterpillar. 25 

and it may not have been politeness after 
all which made them eat daintily. 

When all the Tent-Caterpillars were 
hatched, and they had eaten every leaf- 
bud near the egg-ring, they began to 
crawl down the tree toward the trunk. 
Once they stopped by a good-sized crotch 
in the branches. " Let 's build here," 
said the leader ; " this place is all right." 

Then some of the Tent-Caterpillars 
said, " Let 's ! " and some of them said, 
" Don't let 's ! " One young fellow said, 
" Aw, come on ! There 's a bigger crotch 
farther down." Of course he should have 
said, " I think you will like a larger crotch 
better," but he was young, and, you know, 
these Larvae had no father or mother to 
help them speak in the right way. They 
were orphans, and it is wonderful how 
they ever learned to talk at all. 

After this, some of the Tent-Caterpil- 
lars went on to the larger crotch and 
some stayed behind. More went than 



26 Among the Meadow People. 

stayed, and when they saw this, those by 
the smaller crotch gave up and joined 
their brothers and sisters, as they should 
have done. It was right to do that 
which pleased most of them. 

It took a great deal of work to make 
the tent. All helped, spinning hundreds 
and thousands of white silken threads, 
laying them side by side, criss - crossing 
them, fastening the ends to branches and 
twigs, not forgetting to leave places 
through which one could crawl in and 
out. They never worked all day at this, 
because unless they stopped to eat they 
would soon have been weak and unable 
to spin. There were nearly always a few 
Caterpillars in the tent, but only in the 
early morning or late afternoon or during 
the night were they all at home. The 
rest of the time they were scattered 
around the tree feeding. Of course 
there were some cold days when they 
stayed in. When the weather was chilly 



The Selfish Tent-Caterpillar. 2j 

they moved slowly and cared very little 
for food. 

There was one young Tent-Caterpillar 
who happened to be the first hatched, and 
who seemed to think that because he was 
a minute older than any of the other chil- 
dren he had the right to his own way. 
Sometimes he got it, because the others 
did n't want to have any trouble. Some- 
times he did n't get it, and then he was 
very sulky and disagreeable, even refusing 
to answer when he was spoken to. 

One cold day, when all the Caterpillars 
stayed in the tent, this oldest brother 
wanted the warmest place, that in the 
very middle. It should have belonged 
to the younger brothers and sisters, for 
they were not so strong, but he pushed 
and wriggled his hairy black and brown 
and yellow body into the very place 
he wanted, and then scolded everybody 
around because he had to push to get 
there. It happened as it always does 



28 Among the Meadow People. 

when a Caterpillar begins to say mean 
things, and he went on until he was say- 
ing some which were really untrue. No- 
body answered back, so he scolded and 
fussed and was exceedingly disagreeable. 

All day long he thought how wretched 
he was, and how badly they treated him, 
and how he guessed they 'd be sorry 
enough if he went away. The next 
morning he went. As long as the warm 
sunshine lasted he did very well. When 
it began to grow ' cool, his brothers and 
sisters crawled past him on their way to 
the tent. " Come on ! " they cried. " It 's 
time to go home." 

"Uh-uh!" said the eldest brother 
(and that meant "No"), " I 'm not 
going." 

" Why not ? " they asked. 

" Oh, because," said he. 

When the rest were all together in the 
tent they talked about him. " Do you 
suppose he 's angry ? " said one. 



The Selfish Tent-Caterpillar. 29 

" What should he be angry about ? " 
said another. 

" I just believe he is," said a third. 
" Did you notice the way his hairs bris- 
tled?" 

" Don't you think we ought to go to 
get him ? " asked two or three of the 
youngest Caterpillars. 

" No," said the older ones. " We 
have n't done anything. Let him get 
over it." 

So the oldest brother, who had thought 
that every other Caterpillar in the tent 
would crawl right out and beg and coax 
him to come back, waited and waited and 
waited, but nobody came. The tent was 
there and the door was open. All he had 
to do was to crawl in and be at home. 
He waited so long that at last he had to 
leave the tree and spin his cocoon with- 
out ever having gone back to his brothers 
and sisters in the tent. He spun his co- 
coon and mixed the silk with a yellowish- 



30 Among the Meadow People. 

white powder, then he lay down in it 
to sleep twenty-one days and grow his 
wines. The last thought he had before 
going to sleep was an unhappy and self- 
ish one. Probably he awakened an un- 
happy and selfish Moth. 

His brothers and sisters were sad when- 
ever they thought of him. " But," they 
said, " what could we do ? It wasn't fair 
for him to have the best of everything, 
and we never answered when he said 
mean things. He might have come back 
at any time and we would have been kind 
to him." 

And they were right. What could 
they have done ? It was very sad, but 
when a Caterpillar is so selfish and sulky 
that he cannot live happily with other 
people, it is much better that he should 
live quite alone. 




In the lower part of the 
meadow, where the grass grew 
tall and tender, there lived a 
fine and sturdy young Snail ; 
that is to say, a fine-looking Snail. ^ 
His shell was a beautiful soft 
gray, and its curves were regular 
and perfect. His body was soft 
and moist, and just what a Snail's 
body should be. Of course, 
when it came to travelling, he 
could not go fast, for none of his 
family are rapid travellers, still, if 
he had been plucky and patient, 
31 



32 Among the Meadow People. 

he might have seen much of the meadow, 
and perhaps some of the world outside. 
His friends and neighbors often told him 
that he ought to start out on a little jour- 
ney to see the sights, but he would always 
answer, " Oh, it is too hard work ! " 

There was nobody who liked stories of 
meadow life better than this same Snail, 
and he would often stop some friendly 
Cricket or Snake to ask for the news. 
After they had told him, they would say, 
" Why, don't you ever get out to see these 
things for yourself ? " and he would give a 
little sigh and answer, " It is too far to go." 

" But you need n't go the whole distance 
in one day," his visitor would say, " only 
a little at a time." 

"Yes, and then I would have to keep 
starting on again every little while," the 
Snail would reply. "What of that?" said 
the visitor ; " you would have plenty of rest- 
ing spells, when you could lie in the shade 
of a tall weed and enjoy yourself." 



The Lazy Snail. 33 

" Well, what is the use ? " the Snail 
would say. " I can't enjoy resting if I 
know I 've got to go to work again," and 
he would sigh once more. 

So there he lived, eating and sleeping, 
and wishing he could see the world, and 
meet the people in the upper part of the 
meadow, but just so lazy that he would n't 
start out to find them. 

He never thought that the Butterflies 
and Beetles might not like it to have him 
keep calling them to him and making them 
tell him the news. Oh, no indeed ! If he 
wanted them to do anything for him, he 
asked them quickly enough, and they, be- 
ing happy, good-natured people, would 
always do as he asked them to. 

There came a day, though, when he 
asked too much. The Grasshoppers had 
been telling him about some very deli- 
cious new plants that grew a little distance 
away, and the Snail wanted some very 
badly. " Can't you bring me some ? " he 



34 Among the Meadow People. 

said. " There are so many of you, and you 
have such good, strong legs. I should 
think you might each bring me a small 
piece in your mouths, and then I should 
have a fine dinner of it." 

The Grasshoppers did n't say anything 
then, but when they were so far away that 
he could not hear them, they said to each 
other, " If the Snail wants the food so 
much, he might better go for it. We 
have other things to do," and they hopped 
off on their own business. 

The Snail sat there, and wondered and 
wondered that they did not come. He kept 
thinking how he would like some of the new 
food for dinner, but there it ended. He 
did n't want it enough to get it for himself. 

The Grasshoppers told all their friends 
about the Snail's request, and everybody 
thought, " Such a lazy, good-for-nothing 
fellow deserves to be left quite alone." 
So it happened that for a very long time 
nobody went near the Snail. 



The Lazy Snail. 35 

The weather grew hotter and hotter. 
The clouds, which blew across the sky, 
kept their rain until they were well past 
the meadow, and so it happened that the 
river grew shallower and shallower, and 
the sunshine dried the tiny pools and rivu- 
lets which kept the lower meadow damp. 
The grass began to turn brown and dry, 
and, all in all, it was trying weather for 
Snails. 

One day, a Butterfly called some of her 
friends together, and told them that she 
had seen the Snail lying in his old place, 
looking thin and hungry. " The grass is 
all dried around him," she said ; " I believe 
he is starving, and too lazy to go nearer 
the river, where there is still good food 
for him." 

They all talked it over together, and 
some of them said it was of no use to help 
a Snail who was too lazy to do anything 
for himself. Others said, " Well, he is too 
weak to help himself now, at all events, 



36 Among the Meadow People. 

and we might help him this once." And 
that is exactly what they did. The But- 
terflies and the Mosquitoes flew ahead to 
find the best place to put the Snail, and 
all the Grasshoppers, and Beetles, and 
other strong crawling creatures took 
turns in rolling the Snail down toward 
the river. 

They left him where the green things 
were fresh and tender, and he grew strong 
and plump once more. It is even said 
that he was not so lazy afterward, but one 
cannot tell whether to believe it or not, 
for everybody knows that when people let 
themselves grow up lazy, as he did, it is 
almost impossible for them to get over it 
when they want to. One thing is sure : 
the meadow people who helped him were 
happier and better for doing a kind thing, 
no matter what became of the Snail. 



■ : 'U-\9 



THE ANT 

IS 



In one of the Ant-hills in the 
highest part of the meadow, 
were a lot of young Ants talk- 
ing together. " I," said one, 
" am going to be a soldier, 
and drive away anybody who 
comes to make us trouble. I 
try biting hard things every 
day to make my jaws strong, 
so that I can guard the home 
better." 

" I," said another and smaller 
Ant, "want to be a worker. I 
want to help build and repair 
the home. I want to get the 
food for the family, and feed 

37 






38 Among the Meadow People. 

the Ant babies, and clean them off when 
they crawl out of their old coats. If I 
can do those things well, I shall be the 
happiest, busiest Ant in the meadow." 

" We don't want to live that kind of 
life," said a couple of larger Ants with 
wings. " We don't mean to stay around 
the Ant-hill all the time and work. We 
want to use our wings, and then you may 
be very sure that you won't see us around 
home any more." 

The little worker spoke up : " Home is 
a pleasant place. You may be very glad 
to come back to it some day." But the 
Ants with the wings turned their backs 
and would n't listen to another word. 

A few days after this there were excit- 
ing times in the Ant-hill. All the winged 
Ants said " Good-bye" to the soldiers and 
workers, and flew off through the air, flew 
so far that the little ones at home could 
no longer see them. All day long they 
were gone, but the next morning when 



An Ant that Wore Wings. 39 

the little worker (whom we heard talking) 
went out to get breakfast, she found the 
poor winged Ants lying on the ground 
near their home. Some of them were 
dead, and the rest were looking for food. 

The worker Ant ran up to the one who 
had said she didn't want to stay around 
home, and asked her to come back to 
the Ant-hill. " No, I thank you," she an- 
swered. " I have had my breakfast now, 
and am going to fly off again." She 
raised her wings to go, but after she had 
given one flutter, they dropped off, and 
she could never fly again. 

The worker hurried back to the Ant- 
hill to call some of her sister workers, and 
some of the soldiers, and they took the 
Ant who had lost her wings and carried 
her to another part of the meadow. There 
they went to work to build a new home 
and make her their queen. 

First, they looked for a good, sandy 
place, on which the sun would shine all 



40 Among the Meadow People. 

day. Then the worker Ants began to 
dig in the ground and bring out tiny 
round pieces of earth in their mouths. 
The soldiers helped them, and before 
night they had a cosy little home in the 
earth, with several rooms, and some food 
already stored. They took their queen in, 
and brought her food to eat, and waited 
on her, and she was happy and contented. 
By and by the Ant eggs began to hatch, 
and the workers had all they could do to 
take care of their queen and her little Ant 
babies, and the soldier Ants had to help. 
The Ant babies were little worms or 
grubs when they first came out of the 
eggs ; after a while they curled up in tiny, 
tiny cases, called pupa-cases, and after an- 
other while they came out of these, and 
then they looked like the older Ants, with 
their six legs, and their slender little 
waists. But whatever they were, whether 
eggs, or grubs, or curled up in the pupa- 
cases, or lively little Ants, the workers fed 



An Ant that Wore Wings. 41 

and took care of them, and the soldiers 
fought for them, and the queen-mother 
loved them, and they all lived happily to- 
gether until the young Ants were ready 
to go out into the great world and learn 
the lessons of life for themselves. 





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THE CHEERFUL HARVESTMEN. 

Some of the meadow people are gay 
and careless, and some are always worry- 
ing. Some work hard every day, and 
some are exceedingly lazy. There, as 
everywhere else, each has his own way of 
thinking about things. It is too bad that 
they cannot all learn to think brave and 
cheerful thoughts, for these make life 
happy. One may have a comfortable 
home, kind neighbors, and plenty to eat, 
yet if he is in the habit of thinking dis- 
agreeable thoughts, not even all these 
good things can make him happy. Now 
there was the young Frog who thought 
herself sick — but that is another story. 

Perhaps the Harvestmen were the most 
cheerful of all the meadow people. The 
42 



The Cheerful Harvestmen. 43 

old Tree Frog used to say that it made 
him feel better just to see their knees 
coming toward him. Of course, when he 
saw their knees, he knew that the whole 
insect was also coming. He spoke in that 
way because the Harvestmen always 
walked or ran with their knees so much 
above the rest of their bodies that one 
could see those first. 

The Harvestmen were not particularly 
fine-looking, not nearly so handsome as 
some of their Spider cousins. One never 
thought of that, however. They had 
such an easy way of moving around on 
their eight legs, each of which had a 
great many joints. It is the joints, or 
bending-places, you know, which make 
legs useful. Besides being graceful, they 
had very pleasant manners. When a 
Harvestman said " Good-morning " to 
you on a rainy day, you always had a 
feeling that the sun was shining. It 
might be that the drops were even then 



44 Among the Meadow People. 

falling into your face, but for a moment 
you were sure to feel that everything was 
bright and warm and comfortable. 

Sometimes the careless young Grasshop- 
pers and Crickets called the Harvestmen 
by their nicknames, " Daddy Long-Legs " 
or " Grandfather Graybeard." Even 
then the Harvestmen were good-natured, 
and only said with a smile that the young 
people had not yet learned the names of 
their neighbors. The Grasshoppers never 
seemed to think how queer it was to call 
a young Harvestman daughter " Grand- 
father Graybeard." When they saw how 
good-natured they were, the Grasshop- 
pers soon stopped trying to tease the 
Harvestmen. People who are really 
good-natured are never teased very long, 
you know. 

The Walking-Sticks were exceedingly 
polite to the Harvestmen. They thought 
them very slender and genteel-looking. 
Once the Five-Legged Walking-Stick 



The Cheerful Harvestmen. 45 

said to the largest Harvestman, " Why 
do you talk so much with the common 
people in the meadow ? " 

The Harvestman knew exactly what the 
Walking-Stick meant, but he was not go- 
ing to let anybody make fun of his kind 
and friendly neighbors, so he said : " I 
think we Harvestmen are rather common 
ourselves. There are a great, great many 
of us here. It must be very lonely to be 
uncommon." 

After that the Walking-Stick had noth- 
ing more to say. He never felt quite 
sure whether the Harvestman was too 
stupid to understand or too wise to gos- 
sip. Once he thought he saw the Har- 
vestman's eyes twinkle. The Harvestman 
did n't care if people thought him stupid. 
He knew that he was not stupid, and 
he would rather seem dull than to lis- 
ten while unkind things were said about 
his neighbors. 

Some people would have thought it 



46 Among the Meadow People. 

very hard luck to be Harvestmen. The 
Garter Snake said that if he were one, he 
should be worried all the time about his 
legs. " I 'm thankful I have n't any," he 
said, " for if I had I should be forever 
thinking I should lose some of them. A 
Harvestman without legs would be badly 
off. He could never in the world crawl 
around on his belly as I do." 

How the Harvestmen did laugh when 
they heard this ! The biggest one said, 
" Well, if that is n't just like some people ! 
Never want to have anything for fear 
they '11 lose it. I wonder if he worries 
about his head ? He might lose that, you 
know, and then what would he do ? " 

It was only the next day that the lar- 
gest Harvestman came home on seven 
legs. His friends all cried out, " Oh, how 
did it ever happen ? " 

" Cows," said he. 

" Did they step on you ? " asked the 
Five-Legged Walking-Stick, He had not 



The Cheerful Harvestmen. 47 

lived long enough in the meadow to un- 
derstand all that the Harvestman meant. 
He was sorry for him, though, for he 
knew what it was to lose a leg. 

" Huh !" said a Grasshopper, interrupt- 
ing in a very rude way, " are n't any Cows 
in this meadow now ! " 

Then the other Harvestmen told the 
Walking-Stick all about it, how sometimes 
a boy would come to the meadow, catch 
a Harvestman, hold him up by one leg, 
and say to him, " Grandfather Graybeard, 
tell me where the Cows are, or I '11 kill 
you." Then the only thing a Harvestman 
could do was to struggle and wriggle 
himself free, and he often broke off a leg 
in doing so. 

"How terrible ! " said the three Walk- 
ing-Sticks all together. " But why don't 
you tell them ? " 

11 We do," answered the Harvestmen. 
" We point with our seven other legs, 
and we point every way there is. Some- 



48 Among the Meadow People. 

times we don't know where they are, so 
we point everywhere, to be sure. But it 
does n't make any difference. Our legs 
drop of! just the same." 

" Is n't a boy clever enough to find 
Cows alone ? " asked the Walking-Sticks. 

" Oh, it is n't that," cried all the meadow 
people together. " Even after you tell, 
and sometimes when the Cows are right 
there, they walk off home without them." 

" I 'd sting them," said a Wasp, waving 
his feelers fiercely and raising and lower- 
ing his wings. " I 'd sting them as hard 
as I could." 

" You would n't if you had no sting," 
said the Tree Frog. 

" N-no," stammered the Wasp, " I sup- 
pose I would n't." 

" You poor creature ! " said the biggest 
Katydid to the biggest Harvestman. 
" What will you do ? Only seven legs ! " 

" Do ? " answered the biggest Harvest- 
man, and it was then one could see how 






The Cheerful Harvestmen. 49 

truly brave and cheerful he was. " Do ? 
I '11 walk on those seven. If I lose one 
of them I '11 walk on six, and if I lose one 
of them I '11 walk on five. Have n't I my 
mouth and my stomach and my eyes and 
my two feelers, and my two food-pincers ? 
I may not be so good-looking, but I am a 
Harvestman, and I shall enjoy the grass 
and the sunshine and my kind neighbors 
as long as I live. I must leave you now. 
Good-day." 

He walked off rather awkwardly, for 
he had not yet learned to manage him- 
self since his accident. The meadow 
people looked after him very thoughtfully. 
They were not noticing his awkwardness, 
or thinking of his high knees or of his 
little low body. Perhaps they thought 
what the Cicada said, " Ah, that is the 

way to live ! " 
4 




The first thing our 
little Spider remem- 
^IRST^\. bered was being crowd- 
ed with a lot of other 
\\yj^Jy) little Spiders in a tiny brown 
house. This tiny house had 
no windows, and was very 
warm and dark and stuffy. 
When the wind blew, the lit- 
tle Spiders would hear it rushing 
through the forest near by, and 
would feel their round brown 
house swinging like a cradle. It 
was fastened to a bush by the 
edge of the forest, but they could 
not know that, so they just wiggled and 



The Little Spider's First Web. 5 l 

pushed and ate the food that they found 
in the house, and wondered what it all 
meant. They did n't even guess that a 
mother Spider had made the brown house 
and put the food in it for her Spider 
babies to eat when they came out of 
their eggs. She had put the eggs in, 
too, but the little Spiders did n't remem- 
ber the time when they lay curled up in 
the eggs. They did n't know what had 
been nor what was to be — they thought 
that to eat and wiggle and sleep was all 
of life. You see they had much to learn. 
One morning the little Spiders found 
that the food was all gone, and they 
pushed and scrambled harder than ever, 
because they were hungry and wanted 
more. Exactly what happened nobody 
knew, but suddenly it grew light, and 
some of them fell out of the house. All 
the rest scrambled after, and there they 
stood, winking and blinking in the bright 
sunshine, and feeling a little bit dizzy, be- 



52 Among the Meadow People. 

cause they were on a shaky web made of 
silvery ropes. 

Just then the web began to shake even 
more, and a beautiful great mother Spider 
ran out on it. She was dressed in black 
and yellow velvet, and her eight eyes 
glistened and gleamed in the sunlight. 
They had never dreamed of such a won- 
derful creature. 

"Well, my children," she exclaimed, " I 
know you must be hungry, and I have 
breakfast all ready for you." So they 
began eating at once, and the mother 
Spider told them many things about the 
meadow and the forest, and said they 
must amuse themselves while she worked 
to get food for them. There was no 
father Spider to help her, and, as she 
said, " Growing children must have plenty 
of good plain food." 

You can just fancy what a good time 
the baby Spiders had. There were a 
hundred and seventy of them, so they 



The Little Spiders First Web. 53 

had no chance to grow lonely, even when 
their mother was away. They lived in 
this way for quite a while, and grew big- 
ger and stronger every day. One morn- 
ing the mother Spider said to her biggest 
daughter, " You are quite old enough to 
work now, and I will teach you to spin 
your web." 

The little Spider soon learned to draw 
out the silvery ropes from the pocket in 
her body where they were made and kept, 
and very soon she had one fastened at 
both ends to branches of the bush. Then 
her mother made her walk out to the 
middle of her rope bridge, and spin and 
fasten two more, so that it looked like a 
shining cross. After that was done, the 
mother showed her something like a comb, 
which is part of a Spider's foot, and taught 
her how to measure, and put more ropes 
out from the middle of the cross, until it 
looked like the spokes of a wheel. 

The little Spider got much discouraged, 



54 Among the Meadow People. 

and said, " Let me finish it some other 
time ; I am tired of working now." 

The mother Spider answered, " No, I 
cannot have a lazy child." 

The little one said, " I can't ever do it, 
I know I can't." 

" Now," said the mother, " I shall have 
to give you a Spider scolding. You have 
acted as lazy as the Tree Frog says boys 
and girls sometimes do. He has been up 
near the farm-house, and says that he has 
seen there children who do not like to 
work. The meadow people could hardly 
believe such a thing at first. He says 
they were cross and unhappy children, and 
no wonder ! Lazy people are never happy. 
You try to finish the web, and see if I am 
not right. You are not a baby now, and 
you must work and get your own food." 

So the little Spider spun the circles of 
rope in the web, and made these ropes 
sticky, as all careful spiders do. She ate 
the loose ends and pieces that were left 



The Little Spider's First Web. 55 

over, to save them for another time, and 
when it was done, it was so fine and per- 
fect that her brothers and sisters crowded 
around, saying, " Oh ! oh ! oh ! how beauti- 
ful ! " and asked the mother to teach them. 
The little web-spinner was happier than 
she had ever been before, and the mother 
began to teach her other children. But 
it takes a long time to teach a hundred 
and seventy children. 




the BEETLE who 

DID NOT LIKE CATERPILLARS 



One morning early 
in June, a fat and shin- 
ing May Beetle lay on 
his back among the 
grasses, kicking his 
six legs in the air, 
and wriggling around 
while he tried to catch 
hold of a grass-blade 
by which to pull him- 
self up. Now, Beetles 
do not like to lie on 
their backs in the sun- 
shine, and this one was 
hot and tired from 
his long struggle. Be- 
side that, he was very 
cross because he was 
late in getting his 
breakfast, so when he 
56 





Beetle who did not like Caterpillars. 57 

did at last get right side up, and saw a 
brown and black Caterpillar watching 
him, he grew very ill-mannered, and said 
some things of which he should have been 
ashamed. 

" Oh, yes," he said, " you are quick 
enough to laugh when you think some- 
body else is in a fix. I often lie on my 
back and kick, just for fun." (Which was 
not true, but when Beetles are cross they 
are not always truthful.) 

" Excuse me," said the Caterpillar, " I 
did not mean to hurt your feelings. If I 
smiled, it was because I remembered be- 
ing in the same plight myself yesterday, 
and what a time I had smoothing my fur 
afterwards. Now, you won't have to 
smooth your fur, will you ? " she asked 
pleasantly. 

" No, I 'm thankful to say I have n't 
any fur to smooth," snapped the Beetle. 
" I am not one of the crawling, furry kind. 
My family wear dark brown, glossy coats, 



58 Among the Meadow People. 

and we always look trim and clean. When 
we want to hurry, we fly ; and when tired 
of flying, we walk or run. We have two 
kinds of wings. We have a pair of dainty, 
soft ones, that carry us through the air, 
and then we have a pair of stiff ones to 
cover over the soft wings when we come 
down to the earth again. We are the 
finest family in the meadow." 

" I have often heard of you," said the 
Caterpillar, " and am very glad to become 
acquainted." 

" Well," answered the Beetle, " I am 
willing to speak to you, of course, but 
we can never be at all friendly. A May 
Beetle, indeed, in company with a Cater- 
pillar ! I choose my friends among the 
Moths, Butterflies, and Dragon-flies,- — in 
fact, / move in the upper circles." 

" Upper circles, indeed!" said a croak- 
ing voice beside him, which made the 
Beetle jump, " I have hopped over your 
head for two or three years, when you 



Beetle who did not like Caterpillars. 59 

were nothing but a fat, white worm. 
You y d better not put on airs. The fine 
family of May Beetles were all worms 
once, and they had to live in the earth 
and eat roots, while the Caterpillars 
were in the sunshine over their heads, 
dining on tender green leaves and flower 
buds." 

The May Beetle began to look very 
uncomfortable, and squirmed as though 
he wanted to get away, but the Tree 
Frog, for it was the Tree Frog, went on : 
" As for your not liking Caterpillars, they 
don't stay Caterpillars. Your new ac- 
quaintance up there will come out with 
wings one of these days, and you will be 
glad enough to know him." And the 
Tree Frog hopped away. 

The May Beetle scraped his head with 
his right front leg, and then said to the 
Caterpillar, who was nibbling away at the 
milkweed : " You know, I was n't really in 
earnest about our not being friends. I 



60 Among the Meadow People. 

shall be very glad to know you, and all 
your family." 

" Thank you," answered the Caterpillar, 
"thank you very much, but I have been 
thinking it over myself, and I feel that I 
really could not be friendly with a May 
Beetle. Of course, I don't mind speak- 
ing to you once in a while, when I am 
eating, and getting ready to spin my co- 
coon. After that it will be different. You 
see, then I shall belong to one of the 
finest families in the meadow, the Milk- 
weed Butterflies. We shall eat nothing 
but honey, and dress in soft orange and 
black velvet. We shall not blunder and 
bump around when we fly. We shall en- 
joy visiting with the Dragon-flies and 
Moths. I shall not forget you altogether, 
I dare say, but I shall feel it my duty to 
move in the upper circles, where I belong. 
Good-morning." 



THE YOUNG ROBIN WHO WAS 
AFRAID TO FLY. 

During the days when the four beauti- 
ful green-blue eggs lay in the nest, Mrs. 
Robin stayed quite closely at home. She 
said it was a very good place, for she 
could keep her eggs warm and still see 
all that was happening. The rail-end on 
which they had built was on the meadow 
side of the fence, over the tallest grasses 
and the graceful stalks of golden-rod. 
Here the Garter Snake drew his shining 
body through the tangled green, and here 
the Tree Frog often came for a quiet 
nap. 

Just outside the fence the milkweeds 
grew, with every broad, pale green leaf 
slanting upward in their spring style. 

61 



62 Among the Meadow People. 

Here the Milkweed Caterpillars fed, and 
here, too, when the great balls of tiny dull 
pink blossoms dangled from the stalks, 
the Milkweed Butterflies hung all day 
long. All the teams from the farmhouse 
passed along the quiet, grass-grown road, 
and those which were going to the farm 
as well. When Mrs. Robin saw a team 
coming, she always settled herself more 
deeply into her nest, so that not one of 
her brick-red breast feathers showed. 
Then she sat very still, only turning her 
head enough to watch the team as it 
came near, passed, and went out of sight 
down the road. Sometimes she did not 
even have to turn her head, for if she 
happened to be facing the road, she could 
with one eye watch the team come near, 
and with the other watch it go away. No 
bird, you know, ever has to look at any- 
thing with both eyes at once. 

After the young Robins had outgrown 
their shells and broken and thrown them 



The Robin who was Afraid to Fly. 63 

off, they were naked and red and blind. 
They lay in a heap in the bottom of the 
nest, and became so tangled that nobody 
but a bird could tell which was which. 
If they heard their father or their mother 
flying toward them, they would stretch up 
their necks and open their mouths. Then 
each would have some food poked down 
his throat, and would lie still until another 
mouthful was brought to him. 

When they got their eyes open and be- 
gan to grow more down, they were good 
little Robins and did exactly as they were 
told. It was easy to be good then, for 
they were not strong enough to want to 
go elsewhere, and they had all they wanted 
to eat. At night their mother sat in the 
nest and covered them with her soft 
feathers. When it rained she also did 
this. She was a kind and very hard- 
working mother. Mr. Robin worked 
quite as hard as she, and was exceedingly 
proud of his family. 



64 Among the Meadow People. 

But when their feathers began to grow, 
and each young Robin's sharp quills 
pricked his brothers and sisters if they 
pushed against him, then it was not so 
easy to be good. Four growing children 
in one little round bed sometimes found 
themselves rather crowded. One night 
Mrs. Robin said to her husband : " I am 
all tired out. I work as long as daylight 
lasts getting food for those children, and 
I cannot be here enough to teach them 
anything." 

" Then they must learn to work for 
themselves," said Mr. Robin decidedly. 
" They are surely old enough." 

" Why, they are just babies ! " ex- 
claimed his wife. " They have hardly 
any tails yet." 

" They don't need tails to eat with," 
said he, " and they may as well begin 
now. I will not have you get so tired for 
this one brood." 

Mrs. Robin said nothing more. In- 



The Robin who was Afraid to Fly. 65 

deed, there was nothing more to be said, 
for she knew perfectly well that her chil- 
dren would not eat with their tails if they 
had them. She loved her babies so that 
she almost disliked to see them grow up, 
yet she knew it was right for them to 
leave the nest. They were so large that 
they spread out over the edges of it al- 
ready, and they must be taught to take 
care of themselves before it was time for 
her to rear her second brood. 

The next morning all four children 
were made to hop out on to the rail. 
Their legs were not very strong and their 
toes sprawled weakly around. Some- 
times they lurched and almost fell. Be- 
fore leaving the nest they had felt big 
and very important ; now they suddenly 
felt small and young and helpless. Once 
in a while one of them would hop feebly 
along the rail for a few steps. Then he 
would chirp in a frightened way, let his 
head settle down over his speckled breast, 



66 Among the Meadow People. 

slide his eyelids over his eyes, and wait 
for more food to be brought to him. 

Whenever a team went by, the oldest 
child shut his eyes. He thought they 
could n't see him if he did that. The 
other children kept theirs open and 
watched to see what happened. Their 
father and mother had told them to 
watch, but the timid young Robin always 
shut his eyes in spite of that. 

" We shall have trouble with him," 
said Mrs. Robin, " but he must be made 
to do as he is told, even if he is afraid." 
She shut her bill very tightly as she 
spoke, and Mr. Robin knew that he could 
safely trust the bringing-up of his timi^ 
son to her. 

Mrs. Robin talked and talked to him, 
and still he shut his eyes every time that 
he was frightened. " I can't keep them 
open," he would say, " because when I 
am frightened I am always afraid, and X 
can't be brave when I am afraid." 



The Robin who was Afraid to Fly. 67 

" That is just when you must be 
brave," said his mother. " There is no 
use in being brave when there is nothing 
to fear, and it is a great deal braver to be 
brave when you are frightened than to 
be brave when you are not." You can 
see that she was a very wise Robin and a 
good mother. It would have been dread- 
ful for her to let him grow up a coward. 

At last the time came when the young 
birds were to fly to the ground and hop 
across the road. Both their father and 
their mother were there to show them how. 
" You must let go of the rail," they said. 
" You will never fly in the world unless 
you let go of the rail." 

Three of the children fluttered and 
lurched and flew down. The timid young 
Robin would not try it. His father or- 
dered and his mother coaxed, yet he only 
clung more closely to his rail and said, 
" I can't ! I 'm afraid ! " 

At last his mother said : " Very well. 



68 Among the Meadow People. 

You shall stay there as long as you wish, 
but we cannot stay with you." 

Then she chirped to her husband, and 
they and the three brave children went 
across the road, talking as they went. 
" Careful ! " she would say. " Now an- 
other hop ! That was fine ! Now another !" 
And the father fluttered around and said : 
" Good ! Good! You'll be grown-up be- 
fore you know it." When they were 
across, the parents hunted food and fed 
their three brave children, tucking the 
mouthfuls far into their wide-open bills. 

The timid little Robin on the fence 
felt very, very lonely. He was hungry, 
too. Whenever he saw his mother pick 
up a mouthful of food, he chirped loudly : 
" Me! Me! Me !" for he wanted her to 
bring it to him. She paid no attention 
to him for a long time. Then she called : 
" Do you think you can fly ? Do you 
think you can fly ? Do you think ?" 

The timid little Robin hopped a few 



The Robin who was Afraid to Fly. 69 

steps and chirped but never lifted a wing. 
Then his mother gave each of the other 
children a big mouthful. 

The Robin on the fence huddled down 
into a miserable little bunch, and thought : 
" They don't care whether I ever have 
anything to eat. No, they don't ! " Then 
he heard a rush of wings, and his mother 
stood before him with a bunch in her bill 
for him. He hopped toward her and she 
ran away. Then he sat down and cried. 
She hopped back and looked lovingly at 
him, but could n't speak because her bill 
was so full. Across the road the Robin 
father stayed with his brave children and 
called out, " Earn it, my son, earn it ! " 

The young Robin stretched out his 
neck and opened his bill — but his mother 
flew to the ground. He was so hungry — 
so very, very hungry, — that for a minute 
he quite forgot to be afraid, and he leaned 
toward her and toppled over. He flut- 
tered his winors without thinking, and the 



jo Among the Meadow People. 

first he knew he had flown to the ground. 
He was hardly there before his mother 
was feeding him and his father was sing- 
ing : " Do you know what you did ? Do 
you know what you did ? Do you 
know ? " 

Before his tail was grown the timid 
Robin had become as brave as any of the 
children, for, you know, after you begin 
to be brave you always want to go on. 
But the Garter Snake says that Mrs. 
Robin is the bravest of the family. 




Jnc (jackets' ^nooL 



In one corner of the meadow lived a 
fat old Cricket, who thought a great deal 
of himself. He had such a big, shining 
body, and a way of chirping so very loudly, 
that nobody could ever forget where he 
lived. He was a very good sort of Cricket, 
too, ready to say the most pleasant things 
to everybody, yet, sad to relate, he had a 
dreadful habit of boasting. He had not 
always lived in the meadow, and he liked 
to tell of the wonderful things he had seen 
and done when he was younger and lived 
up near the white farm-house. 

When he told these stories of what he 
had done, the big Crickets around him 
71 



72 Among the Meadow People. 

would not say much, but just sit and look 
at each other. The little Crickets, how- 
ever, loved to hear him talk, and would 
often come to the door of his house 
(which was a hole in the ground), to beg 
him to tell them more. 

One evening he said he would teach 
them a few things that all little Crickets 
should know. He had them stand in a 
row, and then began : " With what part 
of your body do you eat ? " 

" With our mouths," all the little Crick- 
ets shouted. 

" With what part of your body do you 
run and leap ? " 

" Our legs," they cried. 

" Do you do anything else with your 
legs?" 

11 We clean ourselves with them," said 
one. 

" We use them and our mouths to 
make our houses in the ground," said 
another. 



The Crickets' School. 73 

" Oh yes, and we hear with our two 
front legs," cried one bright little fellow. 

" That is right," answered the fat old 
Cricket. " Some creatures hear with 
things called ears, that grow on the sides of 
their heads, but for my part, I think it much 
nicer to hear with one's legs, as we do." 

" Why, how funny it must be not to 
hear with one's legs, as we do," cried all 
the little Crickets together. 

" There are a great many queer things 
to be seen in the great world," said their 
teacher. " I have seen some terribly big 
creatures with only two legs and no wings 
whatever." 

" How dreadful !" all the little Crickets 
cried. " We would n't think they could 
move about at all." 

" It must be very hard to do so," said 
their teacher ; " I was very sorry for them," 
and he spread out his own wings and 
stretched his six legs to show how he en- 
joyed them. 



74 Among the Meadow People. 

" But how can they sing if they have no 
wings ? " asked the bright little Cricket. 

" They sing through their mouths, in 
much the same way that the birds have 
to. I am sure it must be much easier to 
sing by rubbing one's wings together, as 
we do," said the fat old teacher. " I could 
tell you many queer things about these 
two-legged creatures, and the houses in 
which they live, and perhaps some day I 
will. There are other large four-legged 
creatures around their homes that are very 
terrible, but, my children, I was never 
afraid of any of them. I am one of the 
truly brave people who are never fright- 
ened, no matter how terrible the sight. I 
hope, children, that you will always be 
brave, like me. If anything should scare 
you, do not jump or run away. Stay right 
where you are, and — — " 

But the little Crickets never heard the 
rest of what their teacher began to say, for 
at that minute Brown Bess, the Cow, came 



The Crickets' School. 75 

through a broken fence toward the spot 
where the Crickets were. The teacher 
gave one shrill " chirp," and scrambled 
down his hole. The little Crickets fairly 
tumbled over each other in their hurry to 
get away, and the fat old Cricket, who 
had been out in the great world, never 
again talked to them about being brave. 



THE CONTENTED 

L^umrwonM5 



fr 



After a long and soaking 
rain, the Earthworms came 
out of their burrows, or 
rather, they came part way 
out, for each Earthworm put 
out half of his body, and, as 
there were many of them 
and they lived near to each 
other, they could easily visit 
without leaving their own 
homes. Two of these long, 
slimy people were talking, 
when a Potato Bug strolled 
by. " You poor things," 
said he, "what a wretched 
life you must lead. Spend- 
ing one's days in the dark 
earth must be very dreary." 
76 



The Contented Earthworms. yy 

" Dreary ! " exclaimed one of the Earth- 
worms, " it is delightful. The earth is a 
snug and soft home. It is warm in cold 
weather and cool in warm weather. There 
are no winds to trouble us, and no sun to 
scorch us." 

" But," said the Potato Bug, " it must 
be very dull. Now, out in the grass, one 
finds beautiful flowers, and so many fam- 
ilies of friends." 

" And down here," answered the Worm, 
" we have the roots. Some are brown and 
woody, like those of the trees, and some 
are white and slender and soft. They 
creep and twine, until it is like passing 
through a forest to go among them. And 
then, there are the seeds. Such busy times 
as there are in the ground in spring-time ! 
Each tiny seed awakens and begins to 
grow. Its roots must strike downward, 
and its stalk upward toward the light. 
Sometimes the seeds are buried in the 
earth with the root end up, and then they 



?8 Among the Meadow People. 

have a great time getting twisted around 
and ready to grow." 

" Still, after the plants are all growing 
and have their heads in the air, you must 
miss them." 

" We have the roots always," said the 
Worm. " And then, when the summer 
is over, the plants have done their work, 
helping to make the world beautiful and 
raise their seed babies, and they wither 
and droop to the earth again, and little 
by little the sun and the frost and the rain 
help them to melt back into the earth. 
The earth is the beginning and the end of 
plants." 

" Do you ever meet the meadow people 
in it ? " asked the Potato Bug. 

" Many of them live here as babies," 
said the Worm. " The May Beetles, the 
Grasshoppers, the great Humming-bird 
Moths, and many others spend their baby- 
hood here, all wrapped in eggs or cocoons. 
Then, when they are strong enough, and 



The Contented Earthworms. 79 

their legs and wings are grown, they push 
their way out and begin their work. It is 
their getting-ready time, down here in the 
dark. And then, there are the stones, 
and they are so old and queer. I am 
often glad that I am not a stone, for to 
have to lie still must be hard to bear. Yet I 
have heard that they did not always lie so, 
and that some of the very pebbles around 
us tossed and rolled and ground for years 
in the bed of a river, and that some of 
them were rubbed and broken off of great 
rocks. Perhaps they are glad now to just 
lie and rest." 

"Truly," said the Potato Bug, "you 
have a pleasant home, but give me the 
sunshine and fresh air, my six legs, and 
my striped wings, and you are welcome 
to it all." 

"You are welcome to them all," an- 
swered the Worms, " We are contented 
with smooth and shining bodies, with 
which we can bore and wriggle our way 



80 Among the Meadow People. 

through the soft, brown earth. We like 
our task of keeping the earth right for 
the plants, and we will work and rest 
happily here." 

The Potato Bug went his way, and said 
to his brothers, " What do you think ? I 
have been talking with Earthworms who 
would not be Potato Bugs if they could." 
And they all shook their heads in wonder, 
for they thought that to be Potato Bugs 
was the grandest and happiest thing in 
the world. 




THE MEASURING WOW JOKC 



One day there crawled 
over the meadow fence a 
jolly young Measuring 
Worm. He came from a 
bush by the roadside, and 
although he was still a 
young Worm he had 
kept his eyes open and 
had a very good idea how 
things go in this world. 
" Now," thought he, as 
he rested on the top rail 
of the fence, " I shall 
meet some new friends. 
I do hope they will be 




82 Among the Meadow People. 

pleasant. I will look about me and see if 
anyone is in sight." So he raised his 
head high in the air and, sure enough, 
there were seven Caterpillars of different 
kinds on a tall clump of weeds near by. 

The Measuring Worm hurried over to 
where they were, and making his best 
bow said : "I have just come from the 
roadside and think I shall live in the 
meadow. May I feed with you ? " 

The Caterpillars were all glad to have 
him, and he joined their party. He 
asked many questions about the meadow, 
and the people who lived there, and the 
best place to find food. The Caterpillars 
said, " Oh, the meadow is a good place, 
and the people are nice enough, but they 
are not at all fashionable — not at all." 

"Why," said the Measuring Worm, "if 
you have nice people and a pleasant place 
in which to live, I don't see what more 
you need." 

" That is all very well," said a black and 



The Measuring Worm's Joke. 83 

yellow Caterpillar, " but what we want 
is fashionable society. The meadow peo- 
ple always do things in the same way, 
and one gets so tired of that. Now can 
you not tell us something different, some- 
thing that Worms do in the great world 
from which you come ?" 

Just at this minute the Measuring 
Worm had a funny idea, and he wondered 
if the Caterpillars would be foolish enough 
to copy him. He thought it would be a 
good joke if they did, so he said very sober- 
ly, " I notice that when you walk you keep 
your body quite close to the ground. I 
have seen many Worms do the same 
thing, and it is all right if they wish to, 
but none of my family ever do so. Did 
you notice how I walk ? " 

" Yes, yes," cried the Caterpillars, "show 
us again." 

So the Measuring Worm walked back 
and forth for them, arching his body as 
high as he could, and stopping every little 



84 Among the Meadow People. 

while to raise his head and look haughtily 
around. 

" What grace ! " exclaimed the Cater- 
pillars. " What grace, and what style!" 
and one black and brown one tried to walk 
in the same way. 

The Measuring Worm wanted to laugh 
to see how awkward the black and brown 
Caterpillar was, but he did not even smile, 
and soon every one of the Caterpillars 
was trying the same thing, and saying 
" Look at me. Don't I do well?" or, 
" How was that ?" 

You can just imagine how those seven 
Caterpillars looked when trying to walk 
like the Measuring Worm. Every few 
minutes one of them would tumble over, 
and they all got warm and tired. At last 
they thought they had learned it very well, 
and took a long rest, in which they planned 
to take a long walk and show the other 
meadow people the fashion they had re- 
ceived from the outside world. 



The Measuring Worm's Joke. 85 

" We will walk in a line," they said, " as 
far as we can, and let them all see us. 
Ah, it will be a great day for the meadow 
when we begin to set the fashions ! " 

The mischievous young Measuring 
Worm said not a word, and off they 
started. The big black and yellow Cater- 
pillar went first, the black and brown one 
next, and so on down to the smallest one at 
the end of the line, all arching their bodies 
as high as they could. All the meadow 
people stared at them, calling each other 
to come and look, and whenever the 
Caterpillars reached a place where there 
were many watching them, they would all 
raise their heads and look around exactly 
as the Measuring Worm had done. When 
they got back to their clump of bushes, 
they had the most dreadful backaches, but 
they said to each other, " Well, we have 
been fashionable for once." 

And, at the same time, out in the 
grass, the meadow people were saying, 



86 Among the Meadow People. 

" Did you ever see anything so ridicu- 
lous in your life ? " All of which goes 
to show how very silly people some- 
times are when they think too much of 
being fashionable. 




Seventeen years is a 
long time to be getting ready 
to fly ; yet that is what 
Seventeen-year Locusts, 
Cicadas, have to expect 
First, they lie for a long 
time in eggs, down in 
the earth. Then, when 
they awaken, and crawl 
out of their shells, they 
must grow strong 
enough to dig before 
they can make their 
way out to where the 
87 



88 Among the Meadow People. 

beautiful green grass is growing and wav- 
ing in the wind. 

The Cicada who got so very much puz- 
zled had not been long out of his home in 
the warm, brown earth. He was the only 
Cicada anywhere around, and it was very 
lonely for him. However, he did not 
mind that so much when he was eating, 
or singing, or resting in the sunshine, and 
as he was either eating, or singing, or rest- 
ing in the sunshine most of the time, he 
got along fairly well. 

Because he was young and healthy he 
grew fast. He grew so very fast that 
after a while he began to feel heavy and 
stiff, and more like sitting still than like 
crawling around. Beside all this, his skin 
got tight, and you can imagine how un- 
comfortable it must be to have one's skin 
too tight. He was sitting on the branch 
of a bush one day, thinking about the 
wonderful great world, when — pop ! — his 
skin had cracked open right down the 



A Puzzled Cicada. 89 

middle of his back ! The poor Cicada 
was badly frightened at first, but then it 
seemed so good and roomy that he took a 
deep breath, and — pop ! — the crack was 
longer still ! 

The Cicada found that he had another 
whole skin under the outside one which 
had cracked, so he thought, " How much 
cooler and more comfortable I shall be if 
I crawl out of this broken covering," and 
out he crawled. 

It was n't very easy work, because he 
did n't have anybody to help him. He 
had to hook the claws of his outer skin 
into the bark of the branch, hook them 
in so hard that they could n't pull out, 
and then he began to wriggle out of the 
back of his own skin. It was exceedingly 
hard work, and the hardest of all was the 
pulling his legs out of their cases. He 
was so tired when he got free that he 
could hardly think, and his new skin was 
so soft and tender that he felt limp and 



90 Among the Meadow People. 

queer. He found that he had wings of a 
pretty green, the same color as his legs. 
He knew these wings must have been grow- 
ing under his old skin, and he stretched 
them slowly out to see how big they were. 
This was in the morning, and after he had 
stretched his wings he went to sleep for a 
long time. 

When he awakened, the sun was in the 
western sky, and he tried to think who he 
was. He looked at himself, and instead 
of being green he was a dull brown and 
black. Then he saw his old skin clinging 
to the branch and staring him in the face. 
It was just the same shape as when he was 
in it, and he thought for a minute that he 
was dreaming. He rubbed his head hard 
with his front legs to make sure he. was 
awake, and then he began to wonder which 
one he was. Sometimes he thought that 
the old skin which clung to the bush was 
the Cicada that had lain so long in the 
ground, and sometimes he thought that 



A Puzzled Cicada. 91 

the soft, fat, new-looking one was the 
Cicada. Or were both of them the Ci- 
cada? If he were only one of the two, 
what would he do with the other ? 

While he was wondering about this in 
a sleepy way, an old Cicada from across 
the river flew down beside him. He 
thought he would ask her, so he waved 
his feelers as politely as he knew how, and 
said, " Excuse me, Madam Cicada, for I 
am much puzzled. It took me seventeen 
years to grow into a strong, crawling Ci- 
cada, and then in one day I separated. 
The thinking, moving part of me is here, 
but the outside shell of me is there on 
that branch. Now, which part is the real 
Cicada?" 

" Why, that is easy enough," said the 
Madam Cicada; " You are you, of course. 
The part that you cast off and left cling- 
ing to the branch was very useful once. 
It kept you warm on cold days and cool 
on warm days, and you needed it while 



92 Among the Meadow People. 

you were only a crawling creature. But 
when your wings were ready to carry you 
off to a higher and happier life, then the 
skin that had been a help was in your way, 
and you did right to wriggle out of it. It 
is no longer useful to you. Leave it 
where it is and fly off to enjoy your new 
life. You will never have trouble if you 
remember that the thinking part is the 
real you" 

And then Madam Cicada and her new 
friend flew away to her home over the 
river, and he saw many strange sights be- 
fore he returned to the meadow. 



THE 

EXFROG^ 
sTopjy 



In all the meadow there was 
nobody who could tell such 
interesting stories as the old 
Tree Frog. Even the Garter 
Snake, who had been there the 
longest, and the old Cricket, who 
had lived in the farm-yard, could 
tell no such exciting tales as the 
Tree Frog. All the wonderful 
things of which he told had hap- 
pened before he came to the 
meadow, and while he was still a young 
Frog. None of his friends had known 
him then, but he was an honest fellow, 

93 



94 Among the Meadow People. 

and they were sure that everything he 
told was true : besides, they must be true, 
for how could a body ever think out such 
remarkable tales from his own head ? 

When he first came to his home by the 
elm tree he was very thin, and looked as 
though he had been sick. The Katydids 
who stayed near said that he croaked in 
his sleep, and that, you know, is not what 
well and happy Frogs should do. 

One day when many of the meadow 
people were gathered around him, he told 
them his story. " When I was a little 
fellow," he said, " I was strong and well, 
and could leap farther than any other 
Frog of my size. I was hatched in the 
pond beyond the farm-house, and ate my 
way from the egg to the water outside 
like any other Frog. Perhaps I ought to 
say, ' like any other Tadpole,' for, of course, 
I began life as a Tadpole. I played and 
ate with my brothers and sisters, and little 
dreamed what trouble was in store for me 



The Tree Frog's Story. 95 

when I grew up. We were all in a hurry 
to be Frogs, and often talked of what we 
would do and how far we would travel 
when we were grown. 

" Oh, how happy we were then ! I re> 
member the day when my hind legs began 
to grow, and how the other Tadpoles 
crowded around me in the water and swam 
close to me to feel the two little bunches 
that were to be legs. My fore legs did 
not grow until later, and these bunches 
came just in front of my tail." 

" Your tail ! " cried a puzzled young 
Cricket ; " why, you have n't any tail ! " 

" I did have when I was a Tadpole," 
said the Tree Frog. " I had a beautiful, 
wiggly little tail with which to swim 
through the waters of the pond ; but as 
my legs grew larger and stronger, my tail 
grew littler and weaker, until there was n't 
any tail left. By the time my tail was 
gone I had four good legs, and could 
breathe through both my nose and my 



96 Among the Meadow People. 

skin. The knobs on the ends of my toes 
were sticky, so that I could climb a tree, 
and then I was ready to start on my 
travels. Some of the other Frogs started 
with me, but they stopped along the way, 
and at last I was alone. 

" I was a bold young fellow, and when 
I saw a great white thing among the trees 
up yonder, I made up my mind to see 
what it was. There was a great red thing 
in the yard beside it, but I liked the white 
one better. I hopped along as fast as I 
could, for I did not then know enough to 
be afraid. I got close up to them both, 
and saw strange, big creatures going in 
and out of the red thing — the barn, as I 
afterward found it was called. The largest 
creatures had four legs, and some of them 
had horns. The smaller creatures had 
only two legs on which to walk, and two 
other limbs of some sort with which they 
lifted and carried things. The queerest 
thing about it was, that the smaller creat- 



The Tree Frog's Story. 97 

ures seemed to make the larger ones do 
whatever they wanted them to. They 
even made some of them help do their 
work. You may not believe me, but what 
I tell you is true. I saw two of the larger 
ones tied to a great load of dried grass 
and pulling it into the barn. 

" As you may guess, I stayed there a 
long time, watching these strange creat- 
ures work. Then I went over toward 
the white thing, and that, I found out, 
was the farm-house. Here were more of 
the two-legged creatures, but they were 
dressed differently from those in the barn. 
There were some bright-colored flowers 
near the house, and I crawled in among 
them. There I rested until sunset, and 
then began my evening song. While I 
was singing, one of the people from the 
house came out and found me. She 
picked me up and carried me inside. Oh, 
how frightened I was ! My heart thumped 
as though it would burst, and I tried my 



98 Among the Meadow People. 

best to get away from her. She did n't 
hurt me at all, but she would not let me 

" She put me in a very queer prison. 
At first, when she put me down on a stone 
in some water, I did not know that I was 
in prison. I tried to hop away, and — 
bump ! went my head against something. 
Yet when I drew back, I could see no wall 
there. I tried it again and again, and 
every time I hurt my head. I tell you 
the truth, my friends, those walls were 
made of something which one could see 
through." 

" Wonderful !" exclaimed all the meadow 
people ; " wonderful, indeed !" 

" And at the top," continued the Tree 
Frog, " was something white over the 
doorway into my prison. In the bottom 
were water and a stone, and from the bot- 
tom to the top was a ladder. There I 
had to live for most of the summer. I 
had enough to eat ; but anybody who has 



The Tree Frog's Story. 99 

been free cannot be happy shut in. I 
watched my chance, and three times I got 
out when the little door was not quite 
closed. Twice I was caught and put back. 
In the pleasant weather, of course, I went 
to the top of the ladder, and when it was 
going to rain I would go down again. 
Every time that I went up or down, those 
dreadful creatures would put their faces 
up close to my prison, and I could hear a 
roaring sound which meant they were 
talking and laughing. 

" The last time I got out, I hid near the 
door of the house, and although they 
hunted and hunted for me, they did n't 
find me. After they stopped hunting, the 
wind blew the door open, and I hopped 
out." 

" You don't say ! " exclaimed a Grass- 
hopper. 

" Yes, I hopped out and scrambled 
away through the grass as fast as ever I 
could. You people who have never been 



ioo Among the Meadow People. 

in prison cannot think how happy I was. 
It seemed to me that just stretching my 
legs was enough to make me wild with 
joy. Well, I came right here, and you 
were all kind to me, but for a long time I 
could not sleep without dreaming that I 
was back in prison, and I would croak in 
my sleep at the thought of it." 

" I heard you," cried the Katydid, " and 
I wondered what was the matter." 

" Matter enough," said the Tree Frog. 
" It makes my skin dry to think of it now. 
And, friends, the best way I can ever re- 
pay your kindness to me, is to tell you to 
never, never, never, never go near the 
farm-house." 

And they all answered, "We never 
will." 



THE DAY WHEN THE GRASS 
WAS CUT. 

There came a day when all the meadow 
people rushed back and forth, waving 
their feelers and talking hurriedly to 
each other. The fat old Cricket was 
nowhere to be seen. He said that one 
of his legs was lame and he thought it 
best to stay quietly in his hole. The 
young Crickets thought he was afraid. 
Perhaps he was, but he said that he 
was lame. 

All the insects who had holes crawled 
into them carrying food. Everybody was 
anxious and fussy, and some people were 
even cross. It was all because the farmer 
and his men had come into the meadow 
to cut the grass. They began to work 



102 Among the Meadow People. 

on the side nearest the road, but every 
step which the Horses took brought the 
mower nearer to the people who lived in 
the middle of the meadow or down to- 
ward the river. 

" I have seen this done before," said 
the Garter Snake. " I got away^ from 
the big mower, and hid in the grass by the 
trees, or by the stumps where the mower 
could n't come. Then the men came and 
cut that grass with their scythes, and I 
had to wriggle away over the short, sharp 
grass-stubble to my hole. When they 
get near me this time, I shall go into my 
hole and stay there." 

" They are not so bad after all," said 
the Tree Frog. " I like them better out- 
of-doors than I did in the house. They 
saw me out here once and did n't try to 
catch me." 

A Meadow Mouse came hurrying along. 
" I must get home to my babies," she said. 
"They will be frightened if I am not there." 



The Day when the Grass was Cut. 103 

" Much good you can do when you are 
there ! " growled a voice down under her 
feet She was standing over the hole 
where the fat old Cricket was with his 
lame leg. 

The mother Meadow Mouse looked 
rather angry for a minute, and then she 
answered : " I 'm not so very large and 
strong, but I can squeak and let the 
Horses know where the nest is. Then 
they won't step on it. Last year I had 
ten or twelve babies there, and one of 
the men picked them up and looked at 
them and then put them back. I was 
so frightened that my fur stood on end 
and I shook like June grass in the wind." 

" Humph ! Too scared to run away," 
said the voice under her feet. 

" Mothers don't run away and leave 
their children in danger, " answered the 
Meadow Mouse. " I think it is a great 
deal braver to be brave when you are 
afraid than it is to be brave when you 're 



104 Among the Meadow People. 

not afraid." She whisked her long tail 
and scampered off through the grass. 
She did not go the nearest way to her 
nest because she thought the Garter 
Snake might be watching. She did n't 
wish him to know where she lived. She 
knew he was fond of young Mice, and 
did n't want him to come to see her babies 
while she was away. She said he was 
not a good friend for young children. 

" We don't mind it at all," said the 
Mosquitoes from the lower part of the 
meadow. " We are unusually hungry to- 
day anyway, and we shall enjoy having 
the men come." 

" Nothing to make such a fuss over," 
said a Milkweed Butterfly. " Just crawl 
into your holes or fly away." 

" Sometimes they step on the holes 
and close them," said an Ant. " What 
would you do if you were in a hole and 
it stopped being a hole and was just 
earth ? " 



The Day when the Grass was Cut. 105 

" Crawl out, I suppose," answered the 
Milkweed Butterfly with a careless flutter. 

" Yes," said the Ant, " but I don't see 
what there would be to crawl out 
through." 

The Milkweed Butterfly was already 
gone. Butterflies never worry about any- 
thing very long, you know. 

" Has anybody seen the Measuring 
Worm ? " asked the Katydid. " Where 
is he ? " 

" Oh, I 'm up a tree," answered a 
pleasant voice above their heads, " but I 
shan't be up a tree very long. I shall 
come down when the grass is cut." 

" Oh, dear, dear, dear ! " cried the Ants, 
hurrying around. " We can't think what 
we want to do. We don't know what we 
ought to do. We can't think and we 
don't know, and we don't think that 
we ought to ! " 

" Click ! " said a Grasshopper, spring- 
ing into the air. " We must hurry, hurry, 



106 Among the Meadow People. 

hurry ! " He jumped from a stalk of 
pepper-grass to a plantain. "We must 
hurry," he said, and he jumped from the 
plantain back to the pepper-grass. 

Up in the tree where the Measuring 
Worm was, some Katydids were sitting 
on a branch and singing shrilly : " Did 
you ever ? Did you ever ? Ever ? Ever ? 
Ever? Did you ever?" And this shows 
how much excited they were, for they 
usually sang only at night. 

Then the mower came sweeping down 
the field, drawn by the Blind Horse and 
the Dappled Gray, and guided by the 
farmer himself. The dust rose in clouds 
as they passed, the Grasshoppers gave 
mighty springs which took them out of 
the way, and all the singing and shrilling 
stopped until the mower had passed. The 
nodding grasses swayed and fell as the 
sharp knives slid over the ground. " We 
are going to be hay," they said, " and 
live in the big barn." 



The Day when the Grass was Cut. 107 

" Now we shall grow some more tender 
green blades," said the grass roots. 

" Fine weather for haying," snorted the 
Dappled Gray. "We '11 cut all the grass 
in this field before noon." 

" Good feeling ground to walk on," 
said the Blind Horse, tossing his head 
until the harness jingled. 

Then the Horses and the farmer and 
the mower passed far away, and the 
meadow people came together again. 

" Well," said the Tree Frog. "That's 
over for a while." 

The Ants and the Grasshoppers came 
back to their old places. " We did just 
the right thing," they cried joyfully. 
" We got out of the way." 

The Measuring Worm and the Katy- 
dids came down from their tree as the 
Milkweed Butterfly fluttered past. " The 
men left the grass standing around 
the Meadow Mouse's nest," said the 
Milkweed Butterfly, " and the Cows up 



108 Among the Meadow People. 

by the barn are telling how glad they 
will be to have the hay when the cold 
weather comes." 

" Grass must grow and hay be cut," 
said the wise old Tree Frog, " and when 
the time comes we always know what to 
do. Puk-rup ! Puk-r-r-rup ! " 

" I think," said the fat old Cricket, as 
he crawled out of his hole, " that my 
lame leg is well enough to use. There 
is nothing like rest for a lame leg." 





A few days after the ' 
Measuring Worm came ' 
to the meadow he met the Grass- 
hoppers. Everybody had heard of 
the Caterpillars' wish to be fashion- 
able, and some of the young Grass- 
hoppers, who did not know that it was all 
a joke, said they would like to teach the 
Measuring Worm a few things. So when 
they met him the young Grasshoppers be- 
gan to make fun of him, and asked him 
what he did if he wanted to run, and 
whether he did n't wish his head grew on 
109 



no Among the Meadow People. 

the middle of his back so that he could 
see better when walking. 

The Measuring Worm was good-na- 
tured, and only said that he found his 
head useful where it was. Soon one fine- 
looking Grasshopper asked him to race. 
" That will show," said the Grasshopper, 
" which is the better traveller." 

The Measuring Worm said : " Cer- 
tainly, I will race with you to-morrow, 
and we will ask all our friends to look 
on." Then he began talking about some- 
thing else. He was a wise young fellow, 
as well as a jolly one, and he knew the 
Grasshoppers felt sure that he would be 
beaten. " If I cannot win the race by 
swift running," thought he, "I must try 
to win it by good planning." So he got 
the Grasshoppers to go with him to a 
place where the sweet young grass grew, 
and they all fed together. 

The Measuring Worm nibbled only a 
little here and there, but he talked a great 



Grasshopper and Measuring Worm. 1 1 1 

deal about the sweetness of the grass, and 
how they would not get any more for a 
long time because the hot weather would 
spoil it. And the Grasshoppers said to 
each other: "He is right, and we must 
eat all we can while we have it." So they 
ate, and ate, and ate, and ate, until sun- 
set, and in the morning they awakened 
and began eating again. When the time 
for the race came, they were all heavy 
and stupid from so much eating, — which 
was exactly what the Measuring Worm 
wanted. 

The Tree Frog, the fat, old Cricket, 
and a Caterpillar were chosen to be the 
judges, and the race was to be a long 
one,— from the edge of the woods to the 
fence. When the meadow people were 
all gathered around to see the race, the 
Cricket gave a shrill chirp, which meant 
" Go ! " and off they started. That is to 
say, the Measuring Worm started. The 
Grasshopper felt so sure he could beat 



ii2 Among the Meadow People. 

that he wanted to give the Measuring 
Worm a little the start, because then, you 
see, he could say he had won without half 
trying. 

The Measuring Worm started off at a 
good, steady rate, and when he had gone 
a few feet the Grasshopper gave a couple 
of great leaps, which landed him far ahead 
of the Worm. Then he stopped to nibble 
a blade of grass and visit with some Katy- 
dids who were looking on. By and by he 
took a few more leaps and passed the 
Measuring Worm again. This time he 
began to show off by jumping up straight 
into the air, and when he came down he 
would call out to those who stood near to 
see how strong he was and how easy it 
would be for him to win the race. And 
everybody said, " How strong he is, to be 
sure ! " " What wonderful legs he has ! " 
and "He could beat the Measuring Worm 
with his eyes shut ! " which made the Grass- 
hopper so exceedingly vain that he stopped 



Grasshopper and Measuring Worm. 1 13 

more and more often to show his strength 
and daring. 

That was the way it went, until they 
were only a short distance from the end 
of the race course. The Grasshopper 
was more and more pleased to think how 
easily he was winning, and stopped for a 
last time to nibble grass and make fun of 
the Worm. He gave a great leap into 
the air, and when he came down there 
was the Worm on the fence ! All the 
meadow people croaked, and shrilled, and 
chirped to see the way in which the race 
ended, and the Grasshopper was very 
much vexed. " You should n't call him 
the winner," he said ; " I can travel ten 
times as fast as he, if I try." 

"Yes," answered the judges, "we all 
know that, yet the winning of the race is 
not decided by what you might do, but by 
what you did do." And the meadow people 
all cried : " Lono; live the Measuring 
Worm ! Lonor live the Measuring Worm ! " 




One day a young Frog 
who lived down by the 
river, came hopping up 
through the meadow. He 
was a fine-looking fellow, 
all brown and green, with 
a white vest, and he came 
to see the sights. The 
oldest Frog on the river 
bank had told him that he 




114 



Mr. Green Frog and his Visitors 115 

ought to travel and learn to know the 
world, so he had started at once. 

Young Mr. Green Frog had very big 
eyes, and they stuck out from his head 
more than ever when he saw all the 
strange sights and heard all the strange 
sounds of the meadow. Yet he made one 
great mistake, just as bigger and better 
people sometimes do when they' go on a 
journey ; he did n't try to learn from the 
things he saw, but only to show off to the 
meadow people how much he already 
knew, and he boasted a great deal of the 
fine way in which he lived when at home. 

Mr. Green Frog told those whom he 
met that the meadow was dreadfully dry, 
and that he really could not see how they 
lived there. He said they ought to see 
the lovely soft mud that there was in the 
marsh, and that there the people could sit 
all day with their feet in water in among 
the rushes where the sunshine never came. 
"And then," he said, "to eat grass as the 



n6 Among the Meadow People. 

Grasshoppers did ! If they would go 
home with him, he wxmld show them how 
to live." 

The older Grasshoppers and Crickets 
and Locusts only looked at each other 
and opened their funny mouths in a smile, 
but the young ones thought Mr. Green 
Frog must be right, and they wanted to 
go back with him. The old Hoppers told 
them that they would n't like it down 
there, and that they would be sorry that 
they had gone ; still the young ones teased 
and teased and teased and teased until 
everybody said : " Well, let them go, and 
then perhaps they will be contented when 
they return." 

At last they all set off together, — Mr. 
Green Frog and the young meadow peo- 
ple. Mr. Green Frog took little jumps 
all the way and bragged and bragged. 
The Grasshoppers went in long leaps, the 
Crickets scampered most of the way, and 
the Locusts fluttered. It was a very gay 



Mr. Green Frog and his Visitors. 1 1 7 

little party, and they kept saying to 
each other, " What a fine time we shall 
have ! " 

When they got to the marsh, Mr. Green 
Frog went in first with a soft " plunk " in 
the mud. The rest all followed and tried 
to make believe that they liked it, but 
they did n't — they did n't at all. The 
Grasshoppers kept bumping against the 
tough, hard rushes when they jumped, 
and then that would tumble them over on 
their backs in the mud, and there they 
would lie, kicking their legs in the air, 
until some friendly Cricket pushed them 
over on their feet again. The Locusts 
could n't fly at all there, and the Crickets 
got their shiny black coats all grimy and 
horrid. 

They all got cold and wet and tired — 
yes, and hungry too, for there were no 
tender green things growing in among 
the rushes. Still they pretended to have 
a good time, even while they were think- 



n8 Among the Meadow People. 

ing how they would like to be in their 
dear old home. 

After the sun went down in the west it 
grew colder still, and all the Frogs in the 
marsh began to croak to the moon, croak- 
ing so loudly that the tired little travellers 
could not sleep at all. When the Frogs 
stopped croaking and went to sleep in the 
mud, one tired Cricket said : " If you like 
this, stay. I am going home as fast as 
my six little legs will carry me." And all 
the rest of the travellers said : " So am I," 
" So am I," " So am I." 

Mr. Green Frog was sleeping soundly, 
and they crept away as quietly as they 
could out into the silvery moonlight and 
up the bank towards home. Such a tired 
little party as they were, and so hungry 
that they had to stop and eat every little 
while. The dew was on the grass and 
they could not get warm. 

The sun was just rising behind the 
eastern forest when they got home. They 



Mr. Green Frog and his Visitors. 1 19 

did not want to tell about their trip at all, 
but just ate a lot of pepper-grass to make 
them warm, and then rolled themselves 
in between the woolly mullein leaves to 
rest all day long. And that was the last 
time any of them ever went away with a 
stranger. 



THE DIGNIFIED WALKING- 
STICKS. 

Three Walking-Sticks from the forest 
had come to live in the big maple tree 
near the middle of the meadow. Nobody 
knew exactly why they had left the forest, 
where all their sisters and cousins and 
aunts lived. Perhaps they were not happy 
with their relatives. But then, if one is 
a Walking-Stick, you know, one does not 
care so very much about one's family. 

These Walking-Sticks had grown up 
the best way they could, with no father 
or mother to care for them. They had 
never been taught to do anything useful, 
or to think much about other people. 
When they were hungry they ate some 
leaves, and never thought what they 



The Dignified Walking-Sticks. 121 

should eat the next time that they hap- 
pened to be hungry. When they were 
tired they went to sleep, and when they 
had slept enough they awakened. They 
had nothing to do but to eat and sleep, 
and they did not often take the trouble to 
think. They felt that they were a little bet- 
ter than those meadow people who rushed 
and scrambled and worked from morning 
until night, and they showed very plainly 
how they felt. They said it was not 
genteel to hurry, no matter what happened. 

One day the Tree Frog was under the 
tree when the large Brown Walking-Stick 
decided to lay some eggs. He saw her 
dropping them carelessly around on the 
ground, and asked, " Do you never fix 
a place for your eggs ? " 

"A place?" said the Brown Walking- 
Stick, waving her long and slender feelers 
to and fro. " A place ? Oh, no ! I think 
they will hatch where they are. It is too 
much trouble to find a place." 



122 Among the Meadow People. 

" Puk-r-r-rup ! " said the Tree Frog. 
11 Some mothers do not think it too much 
trouble to be careful where they lay eggs." 

" That may be," said the Brown Walk- 
ing-Stick, "but they do not belong to our 
family." She spoke as if those who did 
not belong to her family might be good 
but could never be genteel. She had 
once told her brother, the Five- Legged 
Walking-Stick, that she would not want 
to live if she could not be genteel. She 
thought the meadow people very common. 

The Five-Legged Walking-Stick looked 
much like his sister. He had the same 
long, slender body, the same long feelers, 
and the same sort of long, slender legs. 
If you had passed them in a hay-field, 
you would surely have thought each a 
stem of hay, unless you happened to see 
them move. The other Walking-Stick, 
their friend, was younger and green. You 
would have thought her a blade of grass. 

It is true that the brother had the same 



The Dignified Walking-Sticks. 123 

kind of legs as his sister, but he did not 
have the same number. When he was 
young and green he had six, then came 
a dreadful day when a hungry Nuthatch 
saw him, flew down, caught him, and car- 
ried him up a tree. He knew just what 
to expect, so when the Nuthatch set him 
down on the bark to look at him, he un- 
hooked his feet from the bark and tum- 
bled to the ground. The Nuthatch tried 
to catch him and broke off one of his legs, 
but she never found him again, although 
she looked and looked and looked and 
looked. That was because he crawled 
into a clump of ferns and kept very still. 

His sister came and looked at him and 
said, " Now if you were only a Spider it 
would not be long before you would have 
six legs again." 

Her brother waved first one feeler and 
then the other, and said : " Do you think 
I would be a Spider for the sake of grow- 
ing legs ? I would rather be a Walking- 



124 Among the Meadow People. 

Stick without any legs than to be a Spider 
with a hundred." Of course, you know, 
Spiders never do have a hundred, and a 
Walking-Stick would n't be walking with- 
out any, but that was just his way of 
speaking, and it showed what kind of 
insect he was. His relatives all waved 
their feelers, one at a time, and said, " Ah, 
he has the true Walking-Stick spirit ! " 
Then they paid no more attention to him, 
and after a while he and his sister and 
their green little friend left the forest for 
the meadow. 

On the day when the grass was cut, they 
had sat quietly in their trees and looked 
genteel. Their feelers were held quite 
close together, and they did not move 
their feet at all, only swayed their bodies 
gracefully from side to side. Now they 
were on the ground, hunting through the 
flat piles of cut grass for some fresh and 
juicy bits to eat. The Tree Frog was 
also out, sitting in a cool, damp corner of 



The Dignified Walking-Sticks. 125 

the grass rows. The young Grasshop- 
pers were kicking up their feet, the Ants 
were scrambling around as busy as ever, 
and life went on quite as though neither 
men nor Horses had ever entered the 
meadow. 

" See !" cried a Spider who was busily 
looking after her web, " there comes a 
Horse drawing something, and the farmer 
sitting on it and driving." 

When the Horse was well into the 
meadow, the farmer moved a bar, and 
the queer-looking machine began to kick 
the grass this way and that with its many 
stiff and shining legs. A frisky young 
Grasshopper kicked in the same way, and 
happened — just happened, of course — to 
knock over two of his friends. Then 
there was a great scrambling and the 
Crickets frolicked with them. The young 
Walking-Stick thought it looked like 
great fun and almost wished herself some 
other kind of insect, so that she could 



126 Among the Meadow People. 

tumble around in the same way. She 
did not quite wish it, you understand, and 
would never have thought of it if she had 
turned brown. 

" Ah," said the Five-Legged Walking- 
Stick," " what scrambling ! How very 
common ! " 

" Yes, indeed ! " said his sister. " Why 
can't they learn to move slowly and grace- 
fully ? Perhaps they can't help being fat, 
but they might at least act genteel." 

''What is it to be genteel?" asked a 
Grasshopper suddenly. He had heard 
every word that the Walking- Stick said. 

" Why," said the Five-Legged Walking- 
Stick, " it is just to be genteel. To act 
as you see us act, and to -" 

Just here the hay-tedder passed over 
them, and every one of the Walking- 
Sticks was sent flying through the air and 
landed on his back. The Grasshoppers 
declare that the Walking-Sticks tumbled 
and kicked and flopped around in a dread- 



The Dignified Walking-Sticks. 127 

fully common way until they were right 
side up. " Why," said the Measuring 
Worm, " you act like anybody else when 
the hay-tedder comes along ! " 

The Walking-Sticks looked very un- 
comfortable, and the brother and sister 
could not think of anything to say. It 
was the young green one who spoke at 
last. "I think," said she, "that it is 
much easier to act genteel when one is 
right side up." 




the das orrnt great storm 



Everything in the meadow 
was dry and dusty. The leaves 
on the milkweeds were turn- 
ing yellow with thirst, the field 
blossoms drooped their dainty 
heads in the sunshine, and the 
grass seemed to fairly rattle in 
the wind, it was so brown and 
dry. 

All of the meadow people 
when they met each other 
would say, " Well, this is hot," , 
and the Garter Snake, who 
had lived there longer than anyone 





The Day of the Great Storm. 129 

declared that it was the hottest and driest 
time that he had ever known. " Really," 
he said, " it is so hot that I cannot eat, 
and such a thing never happened before." 

The Grasshoppers and Locusts were 
very happy, for such weather was exactly 
what they liked. They did n't see how 
people could complain of such delightful 
scorching days. But that, you know, is 
always the way, for everybody cannot be 
suited at once, and all kinds of weather 
are needed to make a good year. 

The poor Tree Frog crawled into the 
coolest place he could find — hollow trees, 
shady nooks under the ferns, or even be- 
neath the corner of a great stone. " Oh," 
said he, " I wish I were a Tadpole again, 
swimming in a shady pool. It is such a 
long, hot journey to the marsh that I can- 
not go. Last night I dreamed that I was 
a Tadpole, splashing in the water, and it 
was hard to awaken and find myself only 
an uncomfortable old Tree Frog." 



130 Among the Meadow People. 

Over his head the Katydids were singing, 
" Lovely weather ! Lovely weather ! " and 
the Tree Frog, who was a good-natured 
old fellow after all, winked his eye at them 
and said : " Sing away. This won't last 
always, and then it will be my turn to sing." 

Sure enough, the very next day a tiny 
cloud drifted across the sky, and the Tree 
Frog, who always knew when the weather 
was about to change, began his rain-song. 
" Pukr-r-rup ! " sang he, " Pukr-r-rup ! It 
will rain ! It will rain ! R-r-r-rain ! " 

The little white cloud grew bigger and 
blacker, and another came following after, 
then another, and another, and another, 
until the sky was quite covered with rush- 
ing black clouds. Then came a long, low 
rumble of thunder, and all the meadow peo- 
ple hurried to find shelter. The Moths and 
Butterflies hung on the under sides of great 
leaves. The Grasshoppers and their cousins 
crawled under burdock and mullein plants. 
The Ants scurried around to find their 



The Day of the Great Storm. 131 

own homes. The Bees and Wasps, who 
had been gathering honey for their nests, 
flew swiftly back. Everyone was hurry- 
ing to be ready for the shower, and above 
all the rustle and stir could be heard the 
voice of the old Frog, " Pukr-r-rup ! Pukr-r- 
rup ! It will rain ! It will rain ! R-r-r-rain ! " 
The wind blew harder and harder, the 
branches swayed and tossed, the leaves 
danced, and some even blew off of their 
mother trees; the hundreds of little clinging 
creatures clung more and more tightly to 
the leaves that sheltered them, and then the 
rain came, and such a rain ! Great drops 
hurrying down from the sky, crowding each 
other, beating down the grass, flooding the 
homes of the Ants and Digger Wasps until 
they were half choked with water, knocking 
over the Grasshoppers and tumbling them 
about like leaves. The lightning flashed, 
and the thunder pealed, and often a tree 
would crash down in the forest near by 
when the wind blew a oreat blast. 



132 Among the Meadow People. 

When everybody was wet, and little 
rivulets of water were trickling through 
the grass and running into great puddles 
in the hollows, the rain stopped, stopped 
suddenly. One by one the meadow peo- 
ple crawled or swam into sight. 

The Digger Wasp was floating on a 
leaf in a big puddle. He was too tired 
and wet to fly, and the whirling of the 
leaf made him feel sick and dizzy, but he 
stood firmly on his tiny boat and tried to 
look as though he enjoyed it. 

The Ants were rushing around to put 
their homes in shape, the Spiders were 
busily eating their old webs, which had 
been broken and torn in the storm, and 
some were already beginning new ones. 
A large family of Bees, whose tree-home 
had been blown down, passed over the 
meadow in search for a new dwelling, and 
everybody seemed busy and happy in the 
cool air that followed the storm. 

The Snake went gliding through the 



The Day of the Great Storm. 133 

wet grass, as hungry as ever, the Tree 
Frog was as happy as when he was a 
Tadpole, and only the Grasshoppers and 
their cousins, the Locusts and Katydids, 
were cross. " Such a horrid rain !" they 
grumbled, " it spoiled all our fun. And 
after such lovely hot weather too." 

" Now don't be silly," said the Tree 
Frog, who could be really severe when he 
thought best, "the Bees and the Ants are 
not complaining, and they had a good 
deal harder time than you. Can't you 
make the best of anything ? A nice, 
hungry, cross lot you would be if it 
did n't rain, because then you would have 
no good, juicy food. It 's better for you 
in the end as it is, but even if it were not, 
you might make the best of it as I did of 
the hot weather. When you have lived 
as long as I have, you will know that 
neither Grasshoppers nor Tree Frogs can 
have their way all the time, but that it 
always comes out all right in the end 
without their frettino- about it." 




This is the story of a 
venturesome young Spider, 
who left his home in the 
meadow to seek his fortune 
in the great world. 

He was a beautiful Spi- 
der, and belonged to one 
of the best families in the 
country around. He was 
a worker, too, for, as he had 
often said, there was n't a 
lazy leg on his body, and 
he could spin the biggest, 
strongest, and shiniest web 
in the meadow. All the 
young people in the meadow liked him, 
and he was invited to every party, or 
134 



The Story of Lily-Pad Island. 135 

dance, or picnic that they planned. If he 
had been content to stay at home, as his 
brothers and sisters were, he would in time 
have become as important and well known 
as the Tree Frog, or the fat, old Cricket 
or even as the Garter Snake. 

But that would not satisfy him at all, 
and one morning he said " Good-by " to 
all his friends and relatives, and set sail 
for unknown lands. He set sail, but not 
on water. He crawled up a tree, and out 
to the end of one of its branches. There 
he began spinning a long silken rope, and 
letting the wind blow it away from the 
tree. He held fast to one end, and when 
the wind was quite strong, he let go of 
the branch and sailed off through the air, 
carried by his rope balloon, and blown 
along by the wind. 

The meadow people, on the ground be- 
low, watched him until he got so far away 
that he looked about as large as a Fly, and 
then he looked no bigger than an Ant, 



136 Among the Meadow People. 

and then no bigger than a clover seed, and 
then no bigger than the tiniest egg that 
was ever laid, and then — well, then you 
could see nothing but sky, and the Spider 
was truly gone. The other young Spiders 
all wished that they had gone, and the old 
Spiders said, "They might much better 
stay at home, as their fathers and mothers 
had done." There was no use talking 
about it when they disagreed so, and very 
little more was said. 

Meanwhile, the young traveller was 
having a very fine time. He was carried 
past trees and over fences, down toward 
the river. Under him were all the bright 
flowers of the meadow, and the bushes 
which used to tower above his head. After 
a while, he saw the rushes of the marsh 
below him, and wondered if the Frogs 
there would see him as he passed over 
them. 

Next, he saw a beautiful, shining river, 
and in the quiet water by the shore were 



The Story of Lily-Pad Island. 137 

great white water-lilies growing, with their 
green leaves, or pads, floating beside them. 
"Ah," thought he, " I shall pass over the 
river, and land on the farther side," and 
he began to think of eating his rope bal- 
loon, so that he might sink slowly to the 
ground, when — the wind suddenly stopped 
blowing, and he began falling slowly down, 
down, down, down. 

How he longed for a branch to cling to ! 
How he shivered at the thought of plung- 
ing into the cold water ! How he wished 
that he had always stayed at home ! How 
he thought of all the naughty things that 
he had ever done, and was sorry that he 
had done them ! But it was of no use, for 
still he went down, down, down. He gave 
up all hope and tried to be brave, and at 
that very minute he felt himself alight on 
a great green lily-pad. 

This was indeed an adventure, and he 
was very joyful for a little while. But he 
got hungry, and there was no food near. 



138 Among the Meadow People. 

He walked all over the leaf, Lily-Pad 
Island he named it, and ran around its 
edges as many as forty times. It was just 
a flat, green island, and at one side was a 
perfect white lily, which had grown, so 
pure and beautiful, out of the darkness 
and slime of the river bottom. The lily 
was so near that he jumped over to it. 
There he nestled in its sweet, yellow cen- 
tre, and went to sleep. 

When he fell asleep it was late in the 
afternoon, and, as the sun sank lower and 
lower in the west, the lily began to close 
her petals and get ready for the night. 
She was just drawing under the water 
when the Spider awakened. It was dark 
and close, and he felt himself shut in and 
going down. He scrambled and pushed, 
and got out just in time to give a great 
leap and alight on Lily Pad-Island once 
more. And then he was in a sad plight. 
He was hungry and cold, and night was 
coming on, and, what was worst of all, in 



The Story of Lily-Pad Island. 139 

his great struggle to free himself from the 
lily he had pulled off two of his legs, so 
he had only six left. 

He never liked to think of that night 
afterward, it was so dreadful. In the 
morning he saw a leaf come floating down 
the stream ; he watched it ; it touched 
Lily-Pad Island for just an instant and he 
jumped on. He did not know where it 
would take him, but anything was better 
than staying where he was and starving. 
It might float to the shore, or against one 
of the rushes that grew in the shallower 
parts of the river. If it did that, he would 
jump off and run up to the top and set sail 
again, but the island, where he had been, 
was too low to give him a start. 

He went straight down-stream for a 
while, then the leaf drifted into a little 
eddy, and whirled around and around, 
until the Spider was almost too dizzy to 
stand on it. After that, it floated slowly, 
very slowly, toward the shore, and at last 



140 Among the Meadow People. 

came the joyful minute when the Spider 
could jump to some of the plants that 
grew in the shallow water, and, by making 
rope bridges from one to another, get on 
solid ground. 

After a few days' rest he started back 
to the meadow, asking his way of every 
insect that he met. When he got home 
they did not know him, he was so changed, 
but thought him only a tramp Spider, and 
not one of their own people. His mother 
was the first one to find out who he was, 
and when her friends said, "Just what I 
expected ! He might have known better," 
she hushed them, and answered : " The 
poor child has had a hard time, and I 
won't scold him for going. He has learned 
that home is the best place, and that home 
friends are the dearest. I shall keep him 
quiet while his new legs are growing, and 
then, I think, he will spin his webs near 
the old place." 

And so he did, and is now one of the 



The Story of Lily-Pad Island. 141 

steadiest of all the meadow people. When 
anybody asks him his age, he refuses to 
tell, " For," he says, " most of me is mid- 
dle-aged, but these two new legs of mine 
are still very young." 



THE GRASSHOPPER WHO 
WOULD N'T BE SCARED. 

There were more Ants in the meadow 
than there were of any other kind of in- 
sects. In their family there were not 
only Ants, but great - aunts, cousins, 
nephews, and nieces, until it made one 
sleepy to think how many relatives 
each Ant had. Yet they were small 
people and never noisy, so perhaps the 
Grasshoppers seemed to be the largest 
family there. 

There were many different families of 
Grasshoppers, but they were all related. 
Some had short horns, or feelers, and red 
legs ; and some had long horns. Some 
lived in the lower part of the meadow 
where it was damp, and some in the upper 
142 



Grasshopper Would'nt be Scared. 143 

part. The Katydids, who really belong 
to this family, you know, stayed in trees 
and did not often sing in the daytime. 
Then there were the great Road Grass- 
hoppers who lived only in places where 
the ground was bare and dusty, and whom 
you could hardly see unless they were 
flying. When they lay in the dust their 
wide wings were hidden and they showed 
only that part of their bodies which was 
dust-color. Let the farmer drive along, 
however, and they rose into the air with a 
gentle, whirring sound and fluttered to a 
safe place. Then one could see them 
plainly, for their large under wings were 
black with yellow edges. 

Perhaps those Grasshoppers who were 
best known in the meadow were the 
Clouded Grasshoppers, large dirty-brown 
ones with dark spots, who seemed to be 
everywhere during the autumn. The 
fathers and brothers in this family always 
crackled their wings loudly when they 



144 Among the Meadow People. 

flew anywhere, so one could never forget 
that they were around. 

It was queer that they were always 
spoken of as Grasshoppers. Their great- 
great-great-grandparents were called 
Locusts, and that was the family name, 
but the Cicadas liked that name and 
wanted it for themselves, and made such 
a fuss about it that people began to call 
them Seventeen-Year-Locusts ; and then 
because they had to call the real Locusts 
something else, they called them Grass- 
hoppers. The Grasshoppers did n't mind 
this. They were jolly and noisy, and as 
they grew older were sometimes very 
pompous. And you know what it is to 
be pompous. 

When the farmer was drawing the last 
loads of hay to his barn and putting them 
away in the great mows there, three 
young Clouded Grasshopper brothers 
were frolicking near the wagon. They 
had tried to see who could run the fastest, 



Grasshopper Would'nt be Scared. 145 

crackle the loudest, spring the highest, 
flutter the farthest, and eat the most. 
There seemed to be nothing more to do. 
They could n't eat another mouthful, the 
other fellows would n't play with them, 
they would n't play with their sisters, and 
they were not having any fun at all. 

They were sitting on a hay-cock, watch- 
ing the wagon as it came nearer and 
nearer. The farmer was on top and one 
of his men was walking beside it. When- 
ever they came to a hay-cock the farmer 
would stop the Horses, the man would 
run a long-handled, shining pitch-fork into 
the hay on the ground and throw it up to 
the farmer. Then it would be trampled 
down on to the load, the farmer's wife 
would rake up the scattering hay which 
was left on the ground, and that would be 
thrown up also. 

The biggest Clouded Grasshopper said 
to his brothers, u You dare not sit still 
while they put this hay on the load ! " 



146 Among the Meadow People. 

The smallest Clouded Grasshopper said, 
" I do too ! " 

The second brother said, " Huh ! 
Guess I dare do anything you do ! " He 
said it in a rather mean way, and that may 
have been because he had eaten too much. 
Overeating will make any insect cross. 

Now every one of them was afraid, but 
each waited for the others to back out. 
While they were waiting, the wagon 
stopped beside them, the shining fork was 
run into the hay, and they were shaken 
and stood on their heads and lifted 
through the air on to the wagon. There 
they found themselves all tangled up with 
hay in the middle of the load. It was 
dark and they could hardly breathe. There 
were a few stems of nettles in the hay, and 
they had to crawl away from them. It 
was no fun at all, and they did n't talk 
very much. 

When the wagon reached the barn, 
they were pitched into the mow with the 



Grasshopper Would'nt be Scared. 147 

hay, and then they hopped and fluttered 
around until they were on the floor over 
the Horses' stalls. They sat together on 
the floor and wondered how they could 
ever get back to the meadow. Because 
they had come in the middle of the load, 
they did not know the way. 

" Oh ! " said they. " Who are those four- 
legged people over there ? " 

" Kittens ! " sang a Swallow over their 
heads. " Oh, tittle-ittle-ittle-ee ! " 

The Clouded Grasshoppers had never 
seen Kittens. It is true that the old Cat 
often went hunting in the meadow, but 
that was at night, when Grasshoppers 
were asleep. 

" Meouw ! " said the Yellow Kitten. 
" Look at those queer little brown people 
on the floor. Let's each catch one." 

So the Kittens began crawling slowly 
over the floor, keeping their bodies and 
tails low, and taking very short steps. 
Not one of them took his eyes off the 



148 Among the Meadow People. 

Clouded Grasshopper whom he meant to 
catch. Sometimes they stopped and 
crouched and watched, then they went 
on, nearer, nearer, nearer, still, while the 
Clouded Grasshoppers were more and 
more scared and wished they had never 
left the meadow where they had been so 
safe and happy. 

At last the Kittens jumped, coming down 
with their sharp little claws just where the 
Clouded Grasshoppers — had been. The 
Clouded Grasshoppers had jumped too, but 
they could not stay long in the air, and 
when they came down the Kittens jumped 
again. So it went until the poor Clouded 
Grasshoppers were very, very tired and 
could not jump half so far as they had done 
at first. Sometimes the Kittens even tried 
to catch them while they were fluttering, 
and each time they came a little nearer than 
before. They were so tired that they never 
thought of leaping up on the wall of the barn 
where the Kittens could n't reach them. 



Grasshopper Would'nt be Scared. 149 

At last the smallest Clouded Grasshop- 
per called to his brothers, " Let us chase 
the Kittens." 

The brothers answered, " They 're too 

big.- 

The smallest Clouded Grasshopper, 
who had always been the brightest one in 
the family, called back, " We may scare 
them if they are big." 

Then all the Clouded Grasshoppers 
leaped toward the Kittens and crackled 
their wings and looked very, very fierce. 
And the Kittens ran away as fast as they 
could. They were in such a hurry to get 
away that the Yellow Kitten tumbled 
over the White Kitten and they rolled on 
the floor in a furry little heap. The 
Clouded Grasshoppers leaped again, and 
the Kittens scrambled away to their nest 
in the hay, and stood against the wall and 
raised their backs and their pointed little 
tails, and opened their pink mouths and 
spat at them, and said, " Ha-ah-h-h ! " 



150 Among the Meadow People. 

" There ! " said the smallest Clouded 
Grasshopper to them, "we won't do any- 
thing to you this time, because you are 
young and don't know very much, but 
don't you ever bother one of us again. 
We might have hopped right on to you, 
and then what could you have done to 
help yourselves ? " 

The Clouded Grasshoppers started off 
to find their way back to the meadow, 
and the frightened Kittens looked at each 
other and whispered : " Just supposing 
they had hopped on to us ! What could 
we have done ! " 




Early one wet morning, a long Earth- 
worm came out of his burrow. He did 
not really leave it, but he dragged most 
of his body out, and let just the tip-end 
of it stay in the earth. Not having any 
eyes, he could not see the heavy, gray 
clouds that filled the sky, nor the milk- 
weed stalks, so heavy with rain-drops that 
they drooped their pink heads. He could 
not see these things, but he could feel the 
soft, damp grass, and the cool, clear air, 
and as for seeing, why, Earthworms never 
do have eyes, and never think of wanting 
them, any more than you would want six 
legs, or feelers on your head. 
151 



152 Among the Meadow People. 

This Earthworm had been out of his 
burrow only a little while, when there was 
a flutter and a rush, and Something flew 
down from the sky and bit his poor body 
in two. Oh, how it hurt ! Both halves 
of him wriggled and twisted with pain, 
and there is no telling what might have 
become of them if another and bigger 
Something had not come rushing down 
to drive the first Something away. So 
there the poor Earthworm lay, in two 
aching, wriggling pieces, and although it 
had been easy enough to bite him in two, 
nothing in the world could ever bite him 
into one. 

After a while the aching stopped, and 
he had time to think. It was very hard 
to decide what he ought to do. You can 
see just how puzzling it must have been, 
for, if you should suddenly find yourself 
two people instead of one, you would not 
know which one was which. At this very 
minute, who should come along but the 



The Earthworm Half- Brothers. 153 

Cicada, and one of the Earthworm pieces 
asked his advice. The Cicada thought 
that he was the very person to advise in 
such a case, because he had had such a 
puzzling time himself. So he said in a 
very knowing way : " Pooh ! That is a 
simple matter. I thought I was two Ci- 
cadas once, but I was n't. The thinking, 
moving part is the real one, whatever 
happens, so that part of the Worm which 
thinks and moves is the real Worm." 

" I am the thinking part," cried each of 
the pieces. 

The Cicada rubbed his head with his 
front legs, he was so surprised. 

" And I am the moving part," cried 
each of the pieces, giving a little wriggle 
to prove it. 

" Well, well, well, well ! " exclaimed the 
Cicada, " I believe I don't know how to 
settle this. I will call the Garter Snake," 
and he flew off to get him. 

A very queer couple they made, the 



154 Among the Meadow People. 

Garter Snake and the Cicada, as they 
came hurrying back from the Snake's 
home. The Garter Snake was quite ex- 
cited. " Such a thing has not happened 
in our meadow for a long time," he said, 
" and it is a good thing there is somebody 
here to explain it to you, or you would be 
dreadfully frightened, My family is re- 
lated to the Worms, and I know. Both 
of you pieces are Worms now. The 
bitten ends will soon be well, and you can 
keep house side by side, if you don't want 
to live together." 

" Well," said the Earthworms, " if we 
are no longer the same Worm, but two 
Worms, are we related to each other ? 
Are we brothers, or what ? " 

" Why," answered the Garter Snake, 
with a funny little smile, " I think you 
might call yourselves half-brothers." And 
to this day they are known as " the Earth- 
worm half-brothers." They are very fond 
of each other and are always seen together. 



The Earthworm Half-Brothers. 155 

A jolly young Grasshopper, who is a 
great eater and thinks rather too much 
about food, said he would n't mind being 
bitten into two Grasshoppers, if it would 
give him two stomachs and let him eat 
twice as much. 

The Cicada told the Garter Snake this 
one day, and the Garter Snake said : 
" Tell him not to try it. The Earth- 
worms are the only meadow people who 
can live after being bitten in two that 
way. The rest of us have to be one, or 
nothing. And as for having two stomachs, 
he is just as well off with one, for if he had 
two, he would get twice as hungry." 



/GRSIK 
ING 

Mi 



Of all the people who lived 
and worked in the meadow by the 
river, there was not one who gave 
so much thought to other people's 
business as a certain Blue-bottle 
Fly. Why this should be so, no- 
body could say ; perhaps it was 
because he had nothing to do but 
eat and sleep, for that is often the 
way with those who do little work. 
Truly his cares were light. To 
be sure, he ate much, but then, 
with nearly sixty teeth for nib- 
bling and awonderful long tongue 
for sucking, he could eat a great 
deal in a very short time. And 
156 



A Gossiping Fly. 157 

as for sleeping — well, sleeping was as easy 
for him as for anyone else. 

However it was, he saw nearly every- 
thing that happened, and thought it over 
in his queer little three-cornered head 
until he was sure that he ought to go to 
talk about it with somebody else. It was 
no wonder that he saw so much, for he 
had a great bunch of eyes on each side of 
his head, and three bright, shining ones on 
the very top of it. That let him see almost 
everything at once, and beside this his 
neck was so exceedingly slender that he 
could turn his head very far around. 

This particular Fly, like all other Flies, 
was very fond of the sunshine and kept 
closely at home in dark or wet weather. 
He had no house, but stayed in a certain 
elder bush on cloudy days and called that 
his home. He had spent all of one stormy 
day there, hanging on the under side of a 
leaf, with nothing to do but think. Of 
course, his head was down and his feet 



158 Among the Meadow People. 

were up, but Blue-bottle Flies think in 
that position as well as in any other, and 
the two sticky pads on each side of his 
six feet held him there very comfortably. 

He thought so much that day, that 
when the next morning dawned sunshiny 
and clear, he had any number of things to 
tell people, and he started out at once. 

First he went to the Tree Frog. " What 
do you suppose," said he, " that the Garter 
Snake is saying about you ? It is very 
absurd, yet I feel that you ought to know. 
He says that your tongue is fastened at 
the wrong end, and that the tip of it 
points down your throat. Of course, I 
knew it could n't be true, still I thought I 
would tell you what he said, and then you 
could see him and put a stop to it." 

For an answer to this the Tree Frog 
ran out his tongue, and, sure enough, it 
was fastened at the front end. " The 
Snake is quite right," he said pleasantly, 
" and my tongue suits me perfectly. It is 



A Gossiping Fly. 159 

just what I need for the kind of food I 
eat, and the best of all is that it never 
makes mischief between friends." 

After that, the Fly could say nothing 
more there, so he flew away in his noisiest 
manner to find the Grasshopper who lost 
the race. " It was a shame," said the Fly 
to him, " that the judges did not give the 
race to you. The idea of that little green 
Measuring Worm coming in here, almost 
a stranger, and making so much trouble ! 
I would have him driven out of the 
meadow, if I were you." 

" Oh, that is all right," answered the 
Grasshopper, who was really a good fel- 
low at heart ; " I was very foolish about 
that race for a time, but the Measuring 
Worm and I are firm friends now. Are 
we not ? " And he turned to a leaf just 
back of him, and there, peeping around the 
edge, was the Measuring Worm himself. 

The Blue-bottle Fly left in a hurry, for 
where people were so good-natured he 



160 Among the Meadow People. 

could do nothing at all. He went this 
time to the Crickets, whom he found all 
together by the fat, old Cricket's hole. 

" I came," he said, " to find out if it 
were true, as the meadow people say, that 
you were all dreadfully frightened when 
the Cow came ? " 

The Crickets answered never a word, 
but they looked at each other and began 
asking him questions. 

"Is it true," said one, " that you do 
nothing but eat and sleep ? " 

" Is it true," said another, "that your 
eyes are used most of the time for seeing 
other people's faults ? " 

" And is it true," said another, " that 
with all the fuss you make, you do little 
but mischief?" 

The Blue-bottle Fly answered nothing, 
but started at once for his home in the elder 
bush, and they say that his three-cornered 
head was filled with very different thoughts 
from any that had been there before. 



THE FROG-HOPPERS GO OUT 
INTO THE WORLD. 

Along the upper edge of the meadow 
and in the corners of the rail fence there 
grew golden-rod. During the spring and 
early summer you could hardly tell that 
it was there, unless you walked close to it 
and saw the slender and graceful stalks 
pushing upward through the tall grass 
and pointing in many different ways with 
their dainty leaves. The Horses and 
Cows knew it, and although they might 
eat all around it they never pulled at it 
with their lips or ate it. In the autumn, 
each stalk was crowned with sprays of 
tiny bright yellow blossoms, which nodded 
in the wind and scattered their golden 
pollen all around. Then it sometimes 

161 



1 62 Among the Meadow People. 

happened that people who were driving 
past would stop, climb over the fence, 
and pluck some of it to carry away. 
Even then there was so much left that 
one could hardly miss the stalks that were 
gone. 

It may have been because the golden- 
rod was such a safe home that most of 
the Frog- Hoppers laid their eggs there. 
Some laid eggs in other plants and bushes, 
but most of them chose the golden-rod. 
After they had laid their eggs they wan- 
dered around on the grass, the bushes, 
and the few trees which grew in the 
meadow, hopping from one place to 
another and eating a little here and a little 
there. 

Nobody knows why they should have 
been called Frog-Hoppers, unless it was 
because when you look them in the face 
they seem a very little like tiny Frogs. 
To be sure, they have six legs, and teeth 
on the front pair, as no real Frog ever 



The Frog-Hoppers Go out 163 

thought of having. Perhaps it was only 
a nickname because their own name was 
so long and hard to speak. 

The golden-rod was beginning to show 
small yellow-green buds on the tips of its 
stalks, and the little Frog- Hoppers were 
now old enough to talk and wonder about 
the great world. On one stalk four 
Frog-Hopper brothers and sisters lived 
close together. That was much pleasanter 
than having to grow up all alone, as most 
young Frog-Hoppers do, never seeing 
their fathers and mothers or knowing 
whether they ever would. 

These four little Frog- Hoppers did not 
know how lucky they were, and that, you 
know, happens very often when people 
have not seen others lonely or unhappy. 
They supposed that every Frog-Hopper 
family had two brothers and two sisters 
living together on a golden-rod stalk. 
They fed on the juice or sap of the 
golden-rod, pumping it out of the stalk 



164 Among the Meadow People. 

with their stout little beaks and eating or 
drinking it. After they had eaten it, they 
made white foam out of it, and this foam 
was all around them on the stalk. Any 
one passing by could tell at once by the 
foam just where the Frog-Hoppers lived. 

One morning the oldest Frog-Hopper 
brother thought that the sap pumped very 
hard. It may be that it did pump hard, 
and it may be that he was tired or lazy. 
Anyway, he began to grumble and find 
fault. " This is the worst stalk of golden- 
rod I ever saw in my life," he said. " It 
does n't pay to try to pump any more sap, 
and I just won't try, so there ! " 

He was quite right in saying that it was 
the worst stalk he had ever seen, because 
he had never seen any other, but he was 
much mistaken in saying that it did n't 
pay to pump sap, and as for saying that 
" it did n't pay, so there ! " we all know 
that when insects begin to talk in that 
way the best thing to do is to leave them 



The Frog-Hoppers Go out. 165 

quite alone until they are better-natured. 

The other Frog-Hopper children could 
n't leave him alone, because they had n't 
changed their skins for the last time. 
They had to stay in their foam until that 
was done. After the big brother spoke in 
this way, they all began to wonder if the 
sap did n't pump hard. Before long the 
big sister wiggled impatiently and said, 
" My beak is dreadfully tired." 

Then they all stopped eating and be- 
gan to talk. They called their home 
stuffy, and said there was n't room to turn 
around in it without hitting the foam. 
They did n't say why they should mind 
hitting the foam. It was soft and clean, 
and always opened up a way when they 
pushed against it. 

" I tell you what ! " said the big brother, 
"after I 've changed my skin once more 
and gone out into the great world, you 
won't catch me hanging around this old 
golden-rod." 



1 66 Among the Meadow People. 

"Nor me!" "Norme!" " Nor me!" 
said the other young Frog-Hoppers. 

" I wonder what the world is like," said 
the little sister. " Is it just bigger foam 
and bigger golden-rod and more Frog- 
Hoppers?" 

"Huh ! " exclaimed her big brother. 
" What lots you know ! If I did n't know 
any more than that about it, I 'd keep still 
and not tell anybody." That made her 
feel badly, and she did n't speak again for 
a long time. 

Then the little brother spoke. " I 
did n't know you had ever been out into 
the world," he said. 

" No," said the big brother, " I suppose 
you did n't There are lots of things you 
don't know." That made him feel badly, 
and he went off into the farthest corner 
of the foam and stuck his head in between 
a golden-rod leaf and the stalk. You see 
the big brother was very cross. Indeed, 
he was exceedingly cross. 






The Frog-Hoppers Go out. 167 

For a long time nobody spoke, and 
then the big sister said, '* I wish you 
would tell us what the world is like." 

The big brother knew no more about 
the world than the other children, but 
after he had been cross and put on airs 
he did n't like to tell the truth. He might 
have known that he would be found out, 
yet he held up his head and answered : " I 
don't suppose that I can tell you so that 
you will understand, because you have 
never seen it. There are lots of things 
there — whole lots of them — and it is very 
big. Some of the things are like golden- 
rod and some of them are not. Some of 
them are not even like foam. And there 
are a great many people there. They all 
have six legs, but they are not so clever 
as we are. We shall have to tell them 
things." 

This was very interesting and made the 
little sister forget to pout and the little 
brother come out of his foam-corner. He 



1 68 Among the Meadow People. 

even looked as though he might ask a 
few questions, so the big brother added, 
" Now don't talk to me, for I must think 
about something." 

It was not long after this that the 
young Frog-Hoppers changed their skins 
for the last time. The outside part of 
the foam hardened and made a little roof 
over them while they did this. Then they 
were ready to go out into the meadow. 
The big brother felt rather uncomfortable, 
and it was not his new skin which made 
him so. It was remembering what he 
had said about the world outside. 

When they had left their foam and 
their golden-rod, they had much to see 
and ask about. Every little while one of 
the smaller Frog-Hoppers would exclaim, 
" Why, you never told us about this ! " 
or, " Why did n't you tell us about 
that ? " 

Then the big brother would answer : 
" Yes, I did. That is one of the things 



The Frog-Hoppers Go out. 169 

which I said were not like either golden- 
rod or foam." 

For a while they met only Crickets, 
Ants, Grasshoppers, and other six-legged 
people, and although they looked at each 
other they did not have much to say. At 
last they hopped near to the Tree Frog, 
who was sitting by the mossy trunk of a 
beech tree and looked so much like the 
bark that they did not notice him at first. 
The big brother was very near the Tree 
Frog's head. 

" Oh, see ! " cried the others. " There 
is somebody with only four legs, and he 
does n't look as though he ever had any 
more. Why, Brother, what does this 
mean? You said everybody had six." 

At this moment the Tree Frog opened 
his eyes a little and his mouth a great 
deal, and shot out his quick tongue. 
When he shut his mouth again, the big 
brother of the Frog-Hoppers was nowhere 
to be seen. They never had a chance to 



1 70 Among the Meadow People. 

ask him that question again. If they had 
but known it, the Tree Froe at that 
minute had ten legs, for six and four are 
ten. But then, they could n't know it, 
for six were on the inside. 



tfHE M05QUIT0J 

imiDTOTfACnf 

^ra5NEIGnDOIi5f 



In this meadow, as in 
every other meadow since 
the world began, there were 
some people who were al- 
ways tired of the way things 
were, and thought that, if 
the world were only differ- 
ent, they would be perfect- 
ly happy. One of these 
discontented ones was a 
certain Mosquito, a fellow 
with a whining voice and 
disagreeable manners. He 
had very little patience 
with people who were not 
like him, and thought that 



172 Among the Meadow People. 

the world would be a much pleasanter 
place if all the insects had been made 
Mosquitoes. 

" What is the use of Spiders, and 
Dragon-flies, and Beetles, and Butter- 
flies?" he would say, fretfully; "a Mos- 
quito is worth more than any of them." 

You can just see how unreasonable he 
was. Of course, Mosquitoes and Flies do 
help keep the air pure and sweet, but that 
is no reason why they should set them- 
selves up above the other insects. Do 
not the Bees carry pollen from one flower 
to another, and so help the plants raise 
their Seed Babies ? And who would not 
miss the bright, happy Butterflies, with 
their work of making the world beautiful ? 

But this Mosquito never thought of 
those things, and he said to himself: 
" Well, if they cannot all be Mosquitoes, 
they can at least try to live like them, and 
I think I will call them together and talk 
it over." So he sent word all around, and 



The Mosquito Tries to Teach. 173 

his friends and neighbors gathered to hear 
what he had to say. 

" In the first place," he remarked, "it is 
unfortunate that you are not Mosquitoes, 
but, since you are not, one must make the 
best of it. There are some things, how- 
ever, which you might learn from us 
fortunate creatures who are. For in- 
stance, notice the excellent habit of the 
Mosquitoes in the matter of laying eggs. 
Three or four hundred of the eggs are 
fastened together and left floating on a 
pond in such a way that, when the babies 
break their shells, they go head first into 
the water. Then they " 

" Do you think I would do that if I 
could?" interrupted a motherly old Grass- 
hopper. " Fix it so my children would 
drown the minute they came out of the egg ? 
No, indeed ! " and she hurried angrily away, 
followed by several other loving mothers. 

" But they don't drown," exclaimed the 
Mosquito, in surprise. 



174 Among the Meadow People. 

" They don't if they 're Mosquitoes," 
replied the Ant, " but I am thankful to say 
my children are land babies and not water 
babies." 

" Well, I won't say anything more about 
that, but I must speak of your voices, 
which are certainly too heavy and loud to 
be pleasant. I sho.uld think you might 
speak and sing more softly, even if you 
have no pockets under your wings like 
mine. I flutter my wings, and the air 
strikes these pockets and makes my sweet 
voice." 

" Humph !" exclaimed a Bee, "it is a 
very poor place for pockets, and a very 
poor use to make of them. Every Bee 
knows that pockets are handiest on the 
hind legs, and should be used for carrying 
pollen to the babies at home." 

" My pocket is behind," said a Spider, 
" and my web silk is kept there. I could n't 
live without a pocket." 

Some of the meadow people were get- 



The Mosquito Tries to Teach. 1 75 

ting angry, so the Garter Snake, who 
would always rather laugh than quarrel, 
glided forward and said : " My friends 
and neighbors ; our speaker here has been 
so kind as to tell us how the Mosquitoes 
do a great many things, and to try to 
teach us their way. It seems to me that 
we might repay some of his kindness by 
showing him our ways, and seeing that 
he learns by practice. I would ask the 
Spiders to take him with them and show 
him how to spin a web. Then the Bees 
could teach him how to build comb, and 
the Tree Frog how to croak, and the 
Earthworms how to burrow, and the 
Caterpillars how to spin a cocoon. Each 
of us will do something for him. Perhaps 
the Measuring Worm will teach him to 
walk as the Worms of his family do. I 
understand he does that very well." Here 
everybody laughed, remembering the joke 
played on the Caterpillars, and the Snake 
stopped speaking. 



1 76 Among the Meadow People. 

The Mosquito did not dare refuse to 
be taught, and so he was taken from one 
place to another, and told exactly how to 
do everything that he could not possibly 
do, until he felt so very meek and humble 
that he was willing the meadow people 
should be busy and happy in their own 
way. 




By the edge of the marsh 
lived a young Frog, who 
thought a great deal about 
herself and much less about 
other people. Not that it 
was wrong to think so much 
of herself, but it certainly was 
unfortunate that she should 
have so little time left in 
which to think of others and 
of the beautiful world. 

Early in the morning this 
Frog would awaken and lean 
far over the edge of a pool to see how 

177 




178 Among the Meadow People. 

she looked after her night's rest. Then 
she would give a spring, and come down 
with a splash in the cool water for her 
morning bath. For a while she would 
swim as fast as her dainty webbed feet 
would push her, then she would rest, sit- 
ting in the soft mud with just her head 
above the water. 

When her bath was taken, she had her 
breakfast, and that was the way in which 
she began her day. She did nothing but 
bathe and eat and rest, from sunrise to 
sunset. She had a fine, strong body, and 
had never an ache or a pain, but one day 
she got to thinking, " What if sometime 
I should be sick ? " And then, because 
she thought about nothing but her own 
self, she was soon saying, " I am afraid I 
shall be sick." In a little while longer it 
was, " I certainly am sick." 

She crawled under a big toadstool, and 
sat there looking very glum indeed, until 
a Cicada came along. She told the Cicada 



The Frog who Thought herself Sick. 1 79 

how sick she felt, and he told his cousins, 
the Locusts, and they told their cousins, 
the Grasshoppers, and they told their 
cousins, the Katydids, and then everybody 
told somebody else, and started for the 
toadstool where the young Frog sat. The 
more she had thought of it, the worse she 
felt, until, by the time the meadow people 
came crowding around, she was feeling 
very sick indeed. 

" Where do you feel badly ?" they cried, 
and, "How long have you been sick?" 
and one Cricket stared with big eyes, and 
said, " How dr-r-readfully she looks !" The 
young Frog felt weaker and weaker, and 
answered in a faint little voice that she 
had felt perfectly well until after break- 
fast, but that now she was quite sure her 
skin was getting dry, and "Oh dear!" and 
" Oh dear ! " 

Now everybody knows that Frogs 
breathe through their skins as well as 
through their noses, and for a Frog's skin 



180 Among the Meadow People. 

to get dry is very serious, for then he can- 
not breathe through it ; so, as soon as she 
said that, everybody was frightened and 
wanted to do something for her at once. 
Some of the timid ones began to weep, 
and the others bustled around, getting in 
each other's way and all trying to do some- 
thing different. One wanted to wrap her 
in mullein leaves, another wanted her to 
nibble a bit of the peppermint which grew 
near, a third thought she should be kept 
moving, and that was the way it went. 

Just when everybody was at his wits' 
end, the old Tree Frog came along. 
" Pukr-r-rup ! What is the matter with 
you ? " he said. 

" Oh!" gasped the young Frog, weakly, 
" I am sure my skin is getting dry, and I 
feel as though I had something in my 
head." 

" Umph ! " grunted the Tree Frog to 
himself, " I guess there is n't enough in 
her head to ever make her sick ; and, as 



The Frog who Thought herself Sick. 181 

for her skin, it is n't dry yet, and nobody 
knows that it ever will be." 

But as he was a wise old fellow and had 
learned much about life, he knew he must 
not say such things aloud. What he did 
say was, " I heard there was to be a great 
race in the pool this morning." 

The young Frog lifted her head quite 
quickly, saying : " You did ? Who are 
the racers ? " 

"Why, all the young Frogs who live 
around here. It is too bad that you can- 
not go." 

" I don't believe it would hurt me any," 
she said. 

" You might take cold," the Tree Frog 
said ; "besides, the exercise would tire you." 

" Oh, but I am feeling much better," 
the young Frog said, " and I am certain 
it will do me good." 

" You ought not to go," insisted all the 
older meadow people. " You really ought 
not." 



1 82 Among the Meadow People. 

" I don't care," she answered, " I am 
going anyway, and I am just as well as 
anybody." 

And she did go, and it did seem that 
she was as strong as ever. The people 
all wondered at it, but the Tree Frog 
winked his eyes at them and said, " I 
knew that it would cure her." And then 
he, and the Garter Snake, and the fat, old 
Cricket laughed together, and all the 
younger meadow people wondered at what 
they were laughing. 




The warm summer days 
were past, and the Katy- 
dids came again to the 
meadow. Everybody was 
glad to see them, and the 
Grasshoppers, who are 
cousins of the Katydids, 
gave a party in their honor. 

Such a time as the 
meadow people had getting 
ready for that party ! They 
did not have to change 
their dresses, but they 
scraped and cleaned them- 
selves, and all the young 
Grasshoppers went off by 
183 



184 Among the Meadow People. 

the woods to practise jumping and get 
their knees well limbered, because there 
might be games and dancing at the party, 
and then how dreadful it would be if any 
young Grasshopper should find that two 
or three of his legs would n't bend easily ! 

The Grasshoppers did not know at just 
what time they ought to have the party. 
Some of the meadow people whom they 
wanted to invite were used to sleeping all 
day, and some were used to sleeping all 
night, so it really was hard to find an hour 
at which all would be wide-awake and 
ready for fun. At last the Tree Frog 
said : " Pukr-r-rup ! Pukr-r-rup ! Have it 
at sunset ! " And at sunset it was. 

Everyone came on time, and they 
hopped and chattered and danced and 
ate a party supper of tender green leaves. 
Some of the little Grasshoppers grew 
sleepy and crawled among the plantains 
for a nap. Just then a big Katydid said 
he would sing a song — -which was a very 



The Katydids' Quarrel. 185 

kind thing for him to do, because he really 
did it to make the others happy, and not 
to show what a fine musician he was. All 
the guests said, "How charming!" or, 
" We should be delighted ! " and he seated 
himself on a low swinging branch. You 
know Katydids sing with the covers of 
their wings, and so when he alighted on 
the branch he smoothed down his pale 
green suit and rubbed his wing-cases a 
little to make sure that they were in tune. 
Then he began loud and clear, " Katy 
did ! Katy did ! ! Katy did ! ! ! " 

Of course he did n't mean any real 
Katy, but was just singing his song. 
However, there was another Katydid 
there who had a habit of contradicting, 
and he had eaten too much supper, and 
that made him feel crosser than ever ; so 
when the singer said " Katy did ! " this 
cross fellow jumped up and said, " Katy 
did n't ! Katy did n't ! ! Katy did n't ! ! ! " 
and they kept at it, one saying that she 



1 86 Among the Meadow People. 

did and the other that she did n't, until 
everybody was ashamed and uncomfort- 
able, and some of the little Grasshoppers 
awakened and wanted to know what was 
the matter. 

Both of the singers got more and more 
vexed until at last neither one knew just 
what he was saying — and that, you know, 
is what almost always happens when peo- 
ple grow angry. They just kept saying 
something as loud and fast as possible 
and thought all the while that they were 
very bright — which was all they knew 
about it. 

Suddenly somebody noticed that the 
one who began to say " Katy did !" was 
screaming " Katy did n't ! " and the one 
who had said " Katy did n't !" was roaring 
" Katy did ! " Then they all laughed, and 
the two on the branch looked at each 
other in a very shamefaced way. 

The Tree Frog always knew the right 
thing to do, and he said " Pukr-r-rup ! " 



The Katydids' Quarrel. 187 

so loudly that all stopped talking at once. 
When they were quiet he said : " We will 
now listen to a duet, ' Katy,' by the two 
singers who are up the tree. All please 
join in the chorus." So it was begun 
again, and both the leaders were good- 
natured, and all the Katydids below joined 
in with " did or did n't, did or did n't, did 
or did n't." And that was the end of the 
quarrel. 



THEIA! 
PARTY £ 

orxra:% 

SEASON 




-."V- 




Summer had been a joy- 
ful time in the meadow. 
It had been a busy time, 
too, and from morning till 
night the chirping and 
humming of the happy 
people there had mingled 
with the rustle of the 
leaves, and the soft "swish, 
swish," of the tall grass, as 
the wind passed over it. 

True, there had been a 
few quarrels, and some un- 
pleasant things to remem- 



The Last Party of the Season. 189 

ber, but these little people were wise 
enough to throw away all the sad mem- 
ories and keep only the glad ones. And 
now the summer was over. The leaves 
of the forest trees were turning from green 
to scarlet, orange, and brown. The beech 
and hickory nuts were only waiting for a 
friendly frost to open their outer shells, 
and loosen their stems, so that they could 
fall to the earth. 

The wind was cold now, and the meadow 
people knew that the time had come to 
get ready for winter. One chilly Cater- 
pillar said to another, " Boo-00 ! How 
cold it is ! I must find a place for my 
cocoon. Suppose we sleep side by side this 
winter, swinging on the same bush ? " 

And his friend replied: "We must hurry 
then, or we shall be too old and stiff to 
spin good ones." 

The Garter Snake felt sleepy all the 
time, and declared that in a few days he 
would doze off until spring. 



190 Among the Meadow People. 

The Tree Frog had chosen his winter 
home already, and the Bees were making 
the most of their time in visiting the last 
fall flowers, and gathering every bit of 
honey they could find for their cold- 
weather stock. 

The last eggs had been laid, and the 
food had been placed beside many of 
them for the babies that would hatch out 
in the spring. Nothing was left but to say 
" Good-by," and fall asleep. So a message 
was sent around the meadow for all to 
come to a farewell party under the elm tree. 

Everybody came, and all who could sing 
did so, and the Crickets and Mosquitoes 
made music for the rest to dance by. 

The Tree Frog led off with a black and 
yellow Spider, the Garter Snake followed 
with a Potato Bug, and all the other crawl- 
ing people joined in the dance on the 
grass, while over their heads the Butter- 
flies and other light-winged ones fluttered 
to and fro with airy grace. 



The Last Party of the Season. 191 

The Snail and the fat, old Cricket had 
meant to look on, and really did so, for a 
time, from a warm corner by the tree, but 
the Cricket could n't stand it to not join 
in the fun. First, his eyes gleamed, his 
feelers waved, and his feet kept time to 
the music, and, when a frisky young Ant 
beckoned to him, he gave a great leap 
and danced with the rest, balancing, jump- 
ing, and circling around in a most surpris- 
ing way. 

When it grew dark, the Fireflies' lights 
shone like tiny stars, and the dancing went 
on until all were tired and ready to sing 
together the last song of the summer, for 
on the morrow they would go to rest. 
And this was their song : 



The autumn leaves lying 
So thick on the ground, 

The summer Birds flying 
The meadow around, 

Say, " Good-by." 



192 Among the Meadow People 

The Seed Babies dropping 
Down out of our sight, 

The Dragon-flies stopping 
A moment in flight, 

Say, " Good-by." 

The red Squirrels bearing 
Their nuts to the tree, 

The wild Rabbits caring 
For babies so wee, 

Say, " Good-by." 

The sunbeams now showing 

Are hazy and pale, 
The warm breezes blowing 

Have changed to a gale, 
So, " Good-by." 

The season for working 

Is passing away. 
Both playing and shirking 

Are ended to day, 

So, " Good-by." 

The Garter Snake creeping 

So softly to rest, 
The fuzzy Worms sleeping 

Within their warm nest, 
Say, " Good-by." 



The Last Party of the Season. 193 

The Honey Bees crawling 

Around the full comb, 
The tiny Ants calling 

Each one to the home, 
Say, " Good-by." 

We 've ended our singing, 

Our dancing, and play, 
And Nature's voice ringing 

Now tells us to say 

Our " Good-by." 



THE END. 



f Many a mother and teacher will accord a vote 
of thanks to the author. " 




Among the Meadow People. 

STORIES OP FIELD LIFE, WRITTEN FOR THE LITTLE ONES. 

By CLARA D. P1ERSON. 

Illustrated by F. C. Gordon. 
New Edition, i2mo, 194 pages, cloth, gilt top, $1.25 



" One of the daintiest and in many ways most attractive 
of the many books of nature study which the past year has 
brought forth." — Boston Advertiser. 

"They are like Mrs. Gatty's well-known 'Parables from 
Nature,' written in the best of English, as fascinating as fairy 
tales, and yet ' really true,' a quality which we all know 
appeals to the childish mind." — N. Y. Evangelist. 

"We have seen nothing better for its purpose, and hope 
many a teacher of kindergartens and many a mother may 
avail herself of the privilege of using these little tales." — 
JV. V. Christian Advocate. 

" It will be a great advance in the work of education in the 
school and the home when such books are more generally 
utilized." — Zion's Herald. 

"These charming stories of field life will delight many a 
child of kindergarten age ; and it is safe to say that older 
brothers and sisters will also want to claim a share in them." 
— Christian Register. 

Sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of price. 

E. P. DUTTON & CO., Publishers, 

31 West 23d Street New York. 



Among the Forest People 

By CLARA D. PIERSON 

Illustrated by F. C. Gordon 
iamo, 220 pages, cloth, gilt top » - $1.25 



" A thoroughly charming book for the little people, which 
grown folks can read, also, with many a satisfied chuckle at 
its slily insinuated ' morals,' and inimitable mingling of human 
sentiments and affairs in the wild life of ' the Forest People.' 
The illustrations have really artistic value ; thoroughly well 
done, with a pleasing combination of the conventional in form 
and light and shade, they are also clever and accurate in 
drawing." — Living Church. 

' ' A most charming series of stories for children — yes, and 
for children of all ages, both young and old — is given us in the 
volume before us. No one can read these realistic conver- 
sations of the little creatures of the wood without being most 
tenderly drawn toward them, and each story teaches many 
entertaining facts regarding the lives and habits of these little 
people. Mothers and teachers must welcome this book most 
cordially. One cannot speak too strongly in praise of it." — 
Boston Transcript. 

" I declare I really feel tempted to adopt or borrow a nice 
little girl of six or seven, just for the pleasure of reading this 
perfect book to her while she snuggles down in my lap." 

— Kate Sanborn. 

" The telling is conceived with decided originality." 

— Outlook. 

1 ' There has not been such a book for many a year, and it 
makes the old folks long to be young again." — N. Y. Observer. 

" Is an utterly delightful book for the little folk." 

— Interior. 



Sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of price 

E. P. DUTTON & CO., Publishers 

31 West 33d Street ------- New York 



Among the Farmyard People 

By CLARA D. PIERSON 

Illustrated by F. C. Gordon 
iamo, 256 pages, cloth, gilt top, $1.25 



"The very pretty stories of animal life, 'Among the 
Forest People,' and ' Among the Meadow People,' are con- 
tinued in Clara D. Pierson's ' Among the Farmyard People.' 
To those who know the earlier volumes, this needs no intro- 
duetion or praise. To those who may still have that pleasure 
in store, we can commend heartily these tenderly realistic 
conversations, which show a sympathetic knowledge at once 
of animals and of children, who will be amused and taught 
and edified by these dainty little tales that never obtrude the 
always healthy moral of this genuine Child's Book of Nature." 
— Churchman. 

4 ' They will be found valuable for use by mothers and kin- 
dergarten teachers. The beautiful illustrations furnished by 
F. C. Gordon are distinctively instructive. Altogether the 
book is one of the most desirable works that can be found to 
train the child's imagination, affection, and powers of obser- 
vation." — Boston Beacon. 

"We heartily recommend the book for its thoroughly 
healthy tone, far better adapted to a sweet and simple child- 
hood than much of the rather stimulating juvenile literature 
of the day." — A^. Y. Commercial Advertiser, 

" A helpful book for young readers, teaching first lessons 
in natural history, and inculcating principles of love for ani- 
mals." — Philadelphia Evening Telegram. 

" A charming and pretty book for young children. It will 
help them to observe, and it will also help them to think. 
Nearly every story ends with something unsaid, which the nurs- 
ery people are to think out for themselves." — Church Standard. 

Sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of price 

E. P. DUTTON & CO., Publishers 

31 West 33d Street New York 






Among the Pond People 

By CLARA D. PIERSON 

With 12 full-page illustrations by F. C. Gordon 
121T10, 222 pages, cloth, gilt top = - $1.25 



This last book of Mrs. Pierson's has all the charm of the 
earlier volumes. The adventures of Mother Eel, the Playful 
Muskrat, the Snappy Snapping Turtle, and the other Pond 
People, will be eagerly followed by children, whether they 
are naturalists or ordinary readers. The fact that one does 
not continually feel that she is writing for the purpose of in- 
structing the young, gives Mrs. Pierson her hold on so many 
boys and girls. The books teach a great many lessons, but 
one does not feel that the author is lying in wait to enlighten 
the unwary youngster. 

"In it, as in the old Greek comedies, the frogs have a voice 
and speak their little orations and crack their jokes and play 
their pranks. The ' science ' is elementary but the entertain- 
ment genuine, and the little people to whom it is read will 
ever cherish a kindly interest in the denizens of the ponds 
and their floral homes and environments." — Interior. 

" One lays down the book with quickened sympathy for 
everything that crawls and creeps and swims." — Critic. 

* ' The Pond People are quite as real and as fascinating as 
were the Meadow People and the Barnyard People of pre- 
vious books. They are genuine stories, full of a humor that 
will appeal to boys and girls, yet cleverly conveying infor- 
mation about the frogs, turtles, minnows, etc., and often sug- 
gesting a moral in a delicate manner which no child could 
resent . ' ' — Congrega tiona list. 

" In its way the work is very daintily done." — Churchman* 



Sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of price 
E. P. DUTTON & CO., Publishers 
31 West 23d Street Nev 



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